Every Chocobo Has Its Day
by Yaoi Princess Serena
Summary: Quiet little Cloud enrolls with Shin-Ra determined to join SOLDIER... He didn't know what to expect, but it certainly wasn't anything like this! Seph/Cloud/Genesis, Angeal/Zack.
1. In Which Cloud is dubbed Chocobo!

Hmm… let's see… I'm playing with ages a little bit… Cloud is 16, Zack 19 the others their respective ages… maybe XD I'm also playing with plots a lot… why? Cause I can ^.^ Also as must be with Cloud, he will have whoa is me moments but don't be expecting him to be the emo, leave me alone with car keys and I might cut myself, Cloud. What else am I changing you ask? You'll just have to read and find out won't you cupcake?

Disclaimers: If you haven't figured it out… I own nothing! I don't own Final Fantasy VII, VIII or any of the others that you may or may not see characters from. There are a number of FF boys that I have takes on that may or may not pop up in this story, just an FYI. Also I don't own any of the music you may see in here... no matter how much I may with I owned Lady GaGa.

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Chapter 1 – In which Cloud is dubbed Chocobo!

Cloud Strife in all his 5'5", chocobo blond, skinny but toned framed (in his own mind) glory looked up at the Shin-Ra Academy building before him and sighed in an almost dream like tone. He couldn't believe he was actually there! That he'd finally made it! It had taken a lot of work, a hell of a lot of luck, and a lot of ignoring assholes on the truck ride there, for him to find himself standing there at that moment.

"You know no matter how long you stare at it, its not gonna change." A firm but lighthearted voice interrupted his building joygasm. Cloud whipped his head around a curt reply hanging on the tip of this tongue, but he'd spun so quickly his heavy bags quickly threw him off balance and he was more then certain that he was about to kiss the pavement when strong arm caught him about the shoulders and set him back up right. "Easy there Cadet." The taller man said with a laugh and it was then that Cloud finally noticed the other man's uniform.

"S-Sir!" Cloud stuttered out quickly trying to throw up a quick salute, which only earned him a quick pop in the head from his bag that was still hooked around his arm. This seemed to amuse the SOLDIER in front of him because the next thing he knew the older, teen by the looks of it, was in total stitches. Cloud finally gave up but couldn't manage to stop the pouting look that crossed his face.

"You…" the SOLDIER trailed off as a fit of giggles ran through him still. "You got a-a name cadet?" He asked doing his best to get his laughter under control, he felt bad for laughing at him but the younger teen was just two damn cute. Cloud simply nodded at the question for a moment seeming to have to think of his own name for a moment. There was a SOLDIER talking to him of all people!

"Cloud Strife, sir." He said slowly looking at the other with his wide blue eyes quickly starting to dart around. He noticed a few other SOLDIERS speaking with a number of the cadets that he'd arrived with so he slowly assumed that this was something typical, a way to help ease the cadets into things… HA! It was more like a way to give them all damn heart attacks!

"Zack Fair." The SOLDIER said holding out his hand. "Put it there Spiky." Zack said with a toothy grin. He could tell that the little blond was feeling a bit overwhelmed and Zack couldn't really say he blamed him, he'd been just as shocked by things his first day there. Cloud's eyes goggled almost comically so as he looked at Zack for a long moment before slowly reaching out and putting his hand in Zack's.

"S-Spiky?" Cloud asked raising a brow, mentally kicking himself for the stupid stutter in his voice. Zack said nothing though he simply reached out and ruffled the blond spikes that stuck out from Cloud's head finding himself surprised that like his own spiky locks, Cloud didn't seem to have a lick of product in his hair. This caused the blond to laugh a little and swat at the hand. Cloud couldn't explain why but he really felt at ease with the other man, far more then he'd felt with the teens his age on the way there. He found that he could only hope to get on as well with his actual classmates, eventually. "So what happens next exactly?" Cloud found himself asking, he was silently proud of himself for not stuttering over the question as it left his mouth.

"Well now you'll all head into the main lecture hall and there will be an orientation for all of you, in fact it's just about ready to start. Better get going or Seph will have my ass for being late to one of these again and 'Geal will let it happen." Zack said with a laugh talking to Cloud as if they were old friends. At his words Cloud's eyes widened a comically again at the mention of the nicknames. It caused Zack to eye him for a moment. "You're not one of those Silver Elite groupies are you? Those bitches are crazy!" Zack said with a barking laugh as Cloud quickly shook his head no, his brows shooting up at the mention of the group.

Truth be told Cloud would love to be admitted into the group but not having access to much of anything was one of the draw backs of living in the middle of butt-fuck nowhere, he chose to keep that bit of information to himself though for the time being, feeling as though he'd made an ass of himself enough for one interaction. So Cloud shifted his bags and allowed Zack, who he got the feeling never ran out of energy, to lead him through the crowds of people into the lecture hall. Cloud couldn't help but notice the looks he was getting from some of his classmates as he and Zack walked in. Zack noticed the puzzled and curious stares of the other classmates as well as a few lusty stares from a few of the blonde's soon to be classmates and a few of the slightly older cadets so he flung an arm about Cloud's shoulders and ruffled the soft spikes again. Cloud laughed a little as a small pink blush spread across his cheeks.

As the two approached the front of the hall Zack plopped Cloud down in the front row before giving him a pat on the head and a big grin before he popped off back behind the curtain on stage. Cloud shifted a bit nervously as a few whispers started around him, but he did his best to ignore them. It was nice feeling like he could be easy around someone even if it had only been for those few minutes. He'd always been a bit of an oddball, even his mum had thought so on more then one occasion, though her definition of oddball was catching Cloud dancing around his room with headphones on. He didn't think it was strange though, show him one person his age that didn't do that from time to time and he'd show you a damn oddball. Everyone else thought he was strange for his looks and his mostly quiet demeanor. He'd been rather out going when he'd been younger but thanks to a few run-ins with some of the neighborhood dicks he'd learned to keep to himself. It didn't help matters any that he was built like a damn girl!

Heading behind the curtain Zack quickly found himself getting pulled into a headlock and he wiggled around trying to break the hold. Sephiroth was off to the side simply shaking his head with a roll of his eyes and Angeal was lowly chuckling near him so that left one other.

"Ah come on Gen, off!" Zack whined out. At this Angeal let out a slightly deeper laugh and looked towards the now laughing red head still holding Zack.

"Come now Genesis, leave the pup alone." He chided though the amused look on his face gave him away. Genesis slowly let go of his hold and got an elbow to the ribs for his troubles.

"Ruin all my fun, why don't you." He pouted with a gleam in his eye. Sephiroth finally let out of low laugh of his own and shook his head at the other man.

"Where were you Zack?" He asked curiously. In reply Zack headed over to the curtain and parted it so slightly too any other on looker it wasn't obvious what he was doing until he motioned towards the cadets.

"I found a chocobo." Zack said with a grin. The other three men looked at each other for a long moment, then at Zack like he'd gone mad. This caused the ebony haired man to sigh and point out toward the cadets. Finally the other three moved and peeked out each quickly catching sight of the blond spiky hair.

"Aw, how cute the puppy found a pet." Genesis cooed. At this Angeal whacked him on the back of the head and pulled Zack closer to himself. "I didn't mean it like that… bitch." Genesis hissed rubbing his head. Sephiroth simply smirked at the interaction between his friends.

Lazard watched the four of them from where he stood, laughing silently to himself and shaking his head a bit before a nearby light blinked in warning. Calmly he approached the four and looked at them for a moment before motioning toward the light. "Come children." He said simply before walking away and parting the curtains a bit to slip through and he was quickly followed by the others.

Cloud's breath caught in his throat as all his idols walked out onto the stage. General Sephiroth, the man he'd been dreaming about for the past few years was first. If he knew he wouldn't look like every other grunt around him he'd have been drooling right along with them. The silver haired god in human form was followed by an equally astounding red headed god that Cloud knew to be Commander Genesis Rhapsodos, who was followed by the slightly sterner looking but equally as tempting Commander Angeal Hewley, who Cloud noted was keeping his possible new friend Zack a bit close.

Cloud had heard rumor at one point that relationships of the "close" kind between SOLDIERS were actively encouraged by Shin-Ra, something about not wanting to deal with distraught army wives was one reason he heard and another he'd heard was that women would not be able to handle a SOLDIER after a Mako treatment. Cloud hadn't allowed himself to believe any of that information, concerned that it would turn out of be some horrible tease, but there in front of him was plain as day proof. He briefly wondered for a moment if perhaps Sephiroth and Genesis were close that way but the thought was quickly tossed aside as he noticed Genesis winking at a few of the other first classes that were near the front. _*Man whore.*_ Cloud thought to himself in mild amusement. There was honestly so much eye candy on stage that the moment that Cloud was almost certain that he was going to pop a boner just staring at them all, but the lovely display was ruined when a short fat man waddled onto the stage and started rambling on.

In a matter of minutes Cloud found himself bored to tears and turned his attention back to the delicious men sitting on stage. He couldn't help but study Sephiroth the most out of all of them and found himself wondering just what it was that he and Genesis were whispering to each other. Slowly his eyes moved down the line and rested on Zack, the dark haired teen cracked a faint smirk before crossing his eyes at Cloud. The blond let out a small snort of laughter low enough to not be heard by everyone but still loud enough to be heard by the people directly around him. He then let out a small sigh at the looks he got but simply rolled his eyes and gave a small shake of his head when Zack shot him an apologetic look.

At least it was apologetic until Zack was whacked on the back of the head so fast by a smirking Genesis that Cloud and the others weren't really sure what had just happened or why Zack was now rubbing his head and frowning slightly. Cloud's thoughts changed course once more as the hair on the back of his neck stood up alerting him that he was being stared at. He looked slowly down the line and found his eyes locking with a pair of jade colored cat like eyes that he had become so fond of in photos. He felt frozen for a long moment before he finally gave a quick swallow and attempted a weak and shaky little smile. He was sure he'd end up getting a sneer or frown from the man for the attempt but Sephiroth simply inclined his head back towards the speaker who was obviously finishing up, as though he was telling Cloud that he should be paying attention.

Cloud gave a minuet nod to this and shifted his gaze quickly feeling as though he wanted to pass out for a moment, not realizing how shallow his breathing had become until he finally looked away. Cloud listened carefully as Lazard finally took center stage and began talking about the SOLDIER program. It wasn't until he was coming to the end that he informed the cadets that they would be able to come up and greet the men on stage, a sort of meet and greet. Cloud's eyes went impossibly wide at the news but glancing around at all his classmates… his much larger classmates he knew there was no way in hell that his little ass was getting up there anytime soon.

As the speeches finally wound down there was, as expected, a mad rush to the stage which Cloud sighed upon seeing. Resigning himself to not being able to get an up close look at the men he'd been dying to meet he stood slowly and started to gather up his bags. He'd just turned to leave when an arm was thrown around his shoulders sending him off balance for the second time that day.

"Where ya off to Spiky?" Zack asked with a big grin as he once again kept Cloud from falling on his face. What was it with this guy? Cloud couldn't help but wonder. The blond held no delusions that he was anything special so he couldn't help but be curious about the other teen.

"Well… I was just about to go and find out my room." He mumbled out while glancing towards the stage again, a small frown gracing his delicate features.

"Come on I'll walk with ya." Zack said with a toothy grin, while an evil plan formed in his head. Cloud nodded slowly and followed Zack out of the large room. This was all watched by the three men on stage surrounded by new cadets.

"Oi! Where's the puppy going with the chocobo?" Genesis asked sounding a bit grumpy. Angeal shook his head slightly and shrugged while Sephiroth merely raised a brow while shaking hands with yet another babbling cadet. He honestly wasn't sure if Genesis was grumpy about the fact that Zack had managed to get away or the fact that Zack had run off with the adorable little blond from the front row, it was always hard to tell with him.

Once outside the lecture hall Zack led Cloud down a series of halls until the reached a door simply labeled "Housing Office". Zack guided Cloud into the office pushing him playfully along until they reached the main desk and Zack leaned in smiling at the young woman behind the computer screen. "Hey Robbie." He said with as charming a grin as he could muster. The woman eyed him for a long moment but seemed unmoved by the look.

"What do you want Zack?" She mumbled out before sighing slightly. At this Zack reached behind himself and grabbed hold of Cloud causing the young teen to let out a surprised squeak and jump about ten feet in the air. This caused Zack to laugh a little as he pulled Cloud around the front of himself and pushed him into Robbie's direct line of sight.

"Cadet Strife's housing arrangements." He said with another grin creeping onto his face as he noted the look that clearly screamed "aww" on Robbie's face. The woman was a bit of a hard ass most of the time, as Cloud later learned from Zack, but she was an all right person. Robbie finally gave a slight nod of her head and set about typing away on the computer. As she turned her attention away from the two Zack leaned in and told Cloud that Robbie was the wife of one of the SOLDIERs in his class. Robbie paused in her typing for a moment and glanced up at the two of them. "I heard that Zackary." Zack and Cloud both went wide eyed for a moment and Zack about jumped out of his skin. Cloud giggled lightly at him for a moment before Robbie when back to typing and then slowly looked up again.

"Cadet Strife is slated to be in the East Wing of Building 2, room 214, roommate Marcus Leften." As the words were spoken Zack couldn't help but notice how Cloud paled even more then he already was and even his spikes drooped a bit at the information. Zack clasped a hand on the blond's shoulder and Cloud looked up obviously doing his best to steel his gaze.

"You all right Spiky?" Zack asked turning Cloud a bit so that he could look at him more carefully. It wasn't hard to do with Cloud's small frame. The blond nodded his head at first but a raised eyebrow from Zack had him shaking his head as a small sigh escaped from him.

"That asshole tried to hit on me already." He hissed out despite how shaken he looked. Zack was a little surprised by the bite that the little blond held he could only imagine what Cloud would be like when given the chance to fight, the blond would be a little spitfire. He quickly nodded his head for the blond to continue.

_Cloud had already been on the truck for a long number of hours when it finally pulled into the far outskirts of Midgar. They were of course still under the plate as the truck slowed to a stop once again. Cloud had been busy bouncing about in his own mind about finally being closer to Sephiroth and the few others that invaded his dreams on a nightly basis… such a dirty mind for a virgin. His thoughts were interrupted though as another small batch of new cadets climbed up into the truck. Cloud looked at them for a moment and his eyes bugged, there was no way in hell these guys were 16! Especially the last guy that climbed in, his left arm had to have more muscle then Cloud's whole skinny ass body!_

_As the guy, Marcus (Cloud had heard him give his name to the driver), caught sight of Cloud the blond sunk even lower into his seat, feeling smaller then he already had moments before surrounded by the others. Marcus sat down across from Cloud with a smirk but Cloud couldn't say it was the first look he'd gotten like that since the long ride had begun, but so far it had been the only one that had bothered him, and caused him to curse his thin form and narrow hips._

"_Well aren't you a pretty thing." Marcus said with a chuckle and a wink. Before he could stop himself Cloud bristled at the words and fixed the larger teen with a narrow gaze. "Aww don't be like that cutie, I'll take good care of ya." He added before reaching over and brushing a hand over Cloud's knee. _

"_Touch me again and you'll lose your fingers." Cloud hissed out at he swatted at the hand before he kicked Marcus in the shin, then went about gathering his things and moving closer to the back of the truck. He'd felt a little dejected though when he heard the others merely laugh at his little outburst._

Zack had a frown firmly on his face by the time Cloud was done talking and it saddened the blond a little bit though he couldn't exactly say why. He just knew he liked seeing Zack with a smile far more. The dark haired SOLDIER said nothing though for a long moment before leaning over the desk and whispering something to Robbie. The brunette woman simply nodded before pushing her glasses up a little before she started to type away again. Cloud merely titled his head a bit as the exchange looking very much like a puzzled chocobo. Robbie finally stopped typing and looked back up at Cloud with a bright smile on her face.

"Oh my, seems there was a bit of a mistake. Cadet Strife you're actually assigned one of the single rooms. The West Wing of Building 2, room 114." Cloud brightened back up almost immediately. He couldn't believe they were doing this for him! He hadn't had many people help him out before so it was honestly something quite new for him and a rather big shock.

"Thanks so much!" He exclaimed happily, looking very much like a small child at Christmas when they realize that yes they just got the doll they wanted and surprise, surprise, their parents got them the dream car to go with it! That had been a rather interesting Christmas in the Strife Household indeed.

"Come on Spiky, let's go and get you settled in." Zack said with a grin while grabbing the key to the room. Cloud simply nodded, flashed another smile at Robbie and quickly scurried after Zack, spikes bouncing away as he did so.

What Cloud had thought of as a simply nice gesture from the two taking pity on a poor small cadet was actually a bit more then that as he found out as Zack opened the door to his new room. He'd been expecting a small room with a bed and such and maybe a bathroom, though what he saw was actually more like a mini apartment! It was nothing like the photo he'd seen of cadet's quarters which consisted of two beds, closets, dressers and a bathroom. This room had a small kitchen off to one side a small living area; a half wall divided the two and then two doors. He found one led to the bed room and the other the bathroom. He looked at Zack for a moment and then surprising the both of them he grabbed Zack's arm.

"I think we're in the wrong room!" He squeaked out quickly while turning tail and heading back towards the door. Zack simply laughed a bit at this and shook his head.

"Nope, I just gave you my room." He said with a dopey grin on his face. Cloud's eyes went wide, as Zack noticed that had a habit of doing when the blond was experiencing any sort of major emotion, and it caused Zack to giggle again. "Relax Spiky; I haven't needed it since I moved in with Angeal." He explained, speaking as if the two of them were old friends. Zack had realized because of Cloud's amazement with the building that the blond was probably from a town as small, if not smaller, then his own hometown.

"B-but this is a SOLDIER's room I can't stay here!" Cloud squeaked out, hitting a note that Zack was sure only dogs could hear. The moment the thought crossed his mind though he could hear a voice in his head that sounded oddly like Genesis laughing. Zack pushed the thought away and locked the voice in a dark corner of his mind before turning his attention back to the squeaky cadet.

"Sure ya can! If the reasons are right and as long as you have clearance from a SOLDIER and from the Housing Department." He said with a quick wink. At this Cloud sighed in obvious defeat and finally sat his stuff down by the door. He looked at Zack curiously from across the room and crossed his arms in front of himself.

"I just don't get it though. We just met and yet you're being so nice to me." Cloud muttered out, the confused chocobo look coming back ten fold. Zack laughed softly to himself and moved over to where Cloud stood before ruffling his spikes again.

"You ever meet someone and ya felt like ya knew 'em your whole life?" At the question Cloud thought for a moment before nodding his head slowly and pointing at Zack with a grin. Zack just laughed again and patted Cloud's shoulder before the light moment was interrupted by faint ringing coming from his pocket. He took a step back and motioned for Cloud to get started unpacking his stuff as he drug around his pocket and pulled out his PHS. "Yo!" He said brightly into the phone. Not wanting to seem like he was listening in Cloud went over to his bags and started to dig things out getting lost in his own thoughts and missing most of the conversation.

"Yeah, yeah, tell him to suck it up… damn queen." He heard Zack say loudly with a laugh. The little blond could only imagine who his new found friend was talking to. "Oh, at my old room in Building 2 helping Spiky get settled." There was another long pause from Zack after this and then the ebony haired SOLDIER closed his PHS for a moment before opening it back up and typing a few things before he closed it again and slipped it back into his pocket.

With that being done the two set about rearranging things to Cloud's liking, Zack of course doing all the heavy lifting, while they exchanged stories about their hometowns. The stories about the towns themselves were oddly similar leading to a lot of shared laughs between the two. Cloud had a small radio packed in one of his bags and Zack set it up and the two bopped along to the music as they continued to move things here and there when a loud knock at the door was suddenly heard over the music. Cloud glanced towards Zack with a raised brow but the older teen simply nodded towards the door with his head as his arms were currently full moving the couch back. Cloud raised his brow again but quickly pushed himself up off the floor to answer it. He opened the door quickly and came face to chest with none other then Sephiroth himself. Cloud looked up slowly and could already feel his knees shake a bit.

"Oh… Uh…" He said oh so intelligently finally meeting the eyes of the man that he'd come so far to meet. He nearly jumped out of his skin when another head appeared over his shoulder belonging to none other then Genesis.

"Oh it's the chocobo!" Genesis purred out. "You didn't say anything about him being here Angeal, naughty!" And that was the last thing that the blond heard.

The three grown men watched as Cloud's eyes rolled up into his head and he promptly passed out, Sephiroth catching the small blond before he hit the floor. Of course Zack erupted into a fit of uncontrolled laughter at this as Sephiroth and Angeal both looked at Genesis. The red head merely shrugged his shoulders before looking down at the small blond and bringing a hand up to scratch his chin in thought.

"Was it something I said?" The only answer he got was another bout of laughter from Zack.

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TADA! So that was Chapter 1.


	2. In Which Zack pois…er… cooks!

Disclaimers… see chapter 1… other then that… moving on… XD Thanks for the wonderful words everyone I'm glad my squeaking Cloud didn't throw you all off! *passes out cookies*

Also as a note I edited the first chapter and simply added that Zack sent Angeal a list of things to bring, just letting you know so a part coming up makes more sense. As with the first chapter, spelling, typos and such are all mine, I have no beta and I may or may not fix them later. Also this may seem like things are moving a bit fast in this chapter but it will all be explained in Chapter 3 so bear with me folks!!

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Chapter 2 – In which Zack pois…er… cooks!

"Not quite what I was expecting but…" Zack said with a grin before trailing off with a snorting laugh as he watched Sephiroth scoop the small blond up into his arms and the small group finally stepped into the apartment. Angeal looked around noting the differences in the room while Genesis made quick of work of peeling off his coat and making himself at home on the couch.

The silver haired General couldn't help but marvel at how small the cadet was and how delicate he seemed to be. Was he really 16? The computer had said so but Sephiroth simply couldn't believe it and had come to the conclusion that he must have lied about his age to join up with the army, it had been done in the past by so many cadets it honestly wouldn't surprise him if the information turned out to be true in the long run. All in all Sephiroth found himself rather curious about his small burden, but his thoughts were cut off rather quickly as hand reached out and slowly started to pet the blond spikes.

"Genesis! Would you stop trying to paw him!" Sephiroth snapped out while taking a step back and shifting Cloud a little bringing the small teen closer to his chest. At this Genesis went into all out pout/diva mode.

"I just wanted to see if they were natural!" He snapped back crossing his arms. "Besides I'm not the one with my hand on his ass!" He said sounding rather bitter while shaking his hair back behind himself with a toss of his head. It wasn't until Genesis said that did Sephiroth realize where his hand in fact was before moving it quickly. He then opened his mouth to say something but was quickly cut off my Angeal moving and stepping between the two of them before holding a large bag out to Zack.

Truth be told Angeal could sense and all out bitch fit brewing between the two and merely decided to head it off at the pass and spare them all the headaches that would surely, as they always did, follow after the two got into it. "Should be everything you listed in your message." He said simply before passing the bag off to Zack who gave him a quick peck on the cheek before scurrying into the kitchen area of the small apartment. Angeal then looked to Sephiroth with a raised brow of his own. "Planning on holding him all night?" He asked with a small but clearly amused grin.

The General looked down at the blond for a moment and as thin as he was Sephiroth could probably indeed hold him all night and not take notice to the tiny bit of weight in his arms the whole time. He then merely looked at the other two for a moment, then at Zack mucking about in the kitchen, and raised a thin silver eyebrow at them before turning and carrying the small blond into the bedroom. He heard Genesis say something along the lines of "Don't forget the saddle." But he merely smirked at the chocobo reference not bothering to rise to the bait his friend was laying for him and did his best to ignore the small blush trying to appear. He'd barely just laid the small cadet down before Cloud's eyes started to dart about behind closed lids clearing showing signs that he was about to wake so Sephiroth merely took a step back and waited. A soft sigh escaped from Cloud before his eyes opened, Sephiroth finding the sound a bit of a turn on, as he slowly came back to himself but it quickly turned into a noise that reminded Sephiroth of a cat getting its tail stepped on.

"Oh my… I… oh!" Cloud all but shrieked out causing Sephiroth's eyebrows to creep up all the way to his hairline. It would have been almost comical if he didn't think that the small blond was going to give himself a panic attack.

"If you're going to screw him shut the damn door!" Genesis's voice rang out in a sing song tone from the living room. Sephiroth watched in amazement as the cadet went from panicking to turning bright red and looking bashful over the span of a few seconds. Who the hell was this kid?

"Sorry sir." He muttered out softly with the large blush still coloring his pale cheeks. This caused the General to give a small almost hidden smirk at this. The blond was nothing if not adorable he could see why Zack had taken a liking to him… well at least once you got over the ear piercing shrieks and squeals.

"Sorry for what cadet?" He asked keeping the amusement from his voice while leaning forward a bit allowing it to be entirely clear that he was studying the small blond. He was rewarded with another brilliant blush working its way across the teen's face. He was more then certain that if he wasn't who he was that Cloud would be burying his face in the pillows or hiding under a blanket from him. It was almost cute, in the 'I could screw this blond into next week and still not be done with him he's so damn cute', kind of cute.

Cloud couldn't help but feel amazingly small in front of Sephiroth and he hoped to whatever deity took pity on little gay boys that he didn't say anything else stupid that night, but as he opened his mouth the answer the General's question his nose caught the scent of something from outside the room and he frowned slightly. "What's that smell?" He asked surprising the silver haired man who went wide eyed for a moment and would have looked indignant had he not smelled it to.

Sure enough the scent had hit Sephiroth's nose and he merely turned without a word and walked out into the living room before following his nose and making his way into the kitchen. As he got closer to Zack and the stove he noticed that the smell got worse. Once he was directly behind the ebony haired SOLDIER, he damn near needed to hold his nose. "What in the seven hells is that smell?" He hissed out. Zack jumped slightly but spun around grinning.

"Dinner!" He said brightly. Sephiroth's brow furrowed at that bit of information, he couldn't recall anyone but Angeal ever doing the cooking for the lot of them. Sephiroth could cook a bit but chose not to and they banned Genesis from the kitchen after he made a dinner where each dish had something to do with apples… for a week straight. He couldn't even recall Zack ever boiling water. "Is Spiky up?" Zack asked but before he could get an answer another voice chimed in from the entry way.

"Zack why the hell does it smell like ass in here?!" A small voice whined. The two turned to see Genesis standing there holding his nose and looking nearly cross eyed. "It smells worse then a gay bar's bathroom the day after leave ends." He added with a hissing wheeze.

Angeal wasn't standing all that far from Genesis and while he wasn't being quite as extreme as to cover his nose, though it was quite obvious that he wasn't very fond of the smell either if the small scowl on his face was anything to go by. It was the price that they all paid for having heightened senses. A wheezy little cough caught their attention and they all turned to see Cloud standing there also looking a bit green.

"Spiky you're awake!" Zack exclaimed happily before leaving his strange concoction and bounding over to the blond. Cloud found it a bit less overwhelming to be in the room with the group of men as long as he kept most of his attention on Zack. The ebony haired SOLDIER quickly wrapped and arm around his shoulders and Cloud looked up at him with his nose wrinkled slightly.

"What is that smell?" He asked flat out, his voice small and soft. Zack patted him on the head before leaving his side and weaving his way past Sephiroth and back to the stove. Sephiroth, Angeal and Genesis merely watched the interaction with mild curiosity.

"It's a special dish from Gongaga." He said brightly. "Be done in a few." He added before turning and playfully pushing the lot of them out of the kitchen.

Once outside the kitchen Cloud's eyes went wide again and he quickly looked at the floor finding himself being stared at by the three larger men again. He then let out a startled shriek as the floor was suddenly missing from under his feet and his line of sight as he found himself face to face with Genesis. The blond went pale and even more wide eyed, if that was possible, under the gaze of the red head. Genesis stared at the small blond for a long moment before he was suddenly pulled from his grasp. Sephiroth gave Genesis a small scowl before placing Cloud down on the floor and pushing him slightly behind himself. Cloud honestly had no idea what to do or say to any of this so he merely watched the scene unfold before him. Genesis merely smirked at all of this.

"Can I paw him now? I mean he is awake." He said with a small chuckle. Cloud didn't know what it was about that sentence but it made him puff up a bit from where he now stood behind his idol enjoying the smell of leather and man.

"He is right here and he has a name." He snapped out surprising everyone in the room including himself. Even Zack looked up from his foul smelling concoction and looked at Cloud in surprise. Sephiroth looked down at Cloud with a small smirk on his face which caused the blond to turn bright red again and look down at the floor quickly. Genesis merely smirked once more before holding out his hand and beckoning Cloud closer with a finger.

"Well then Cloud, do come here." The red head purred out at him. Cloud was more then a little surprised that the Commander knew his name and that surprise was obvious on his face. Truth be told after the annoying little meet and greet had ended the three first classes had headed to the nearest computer to look up information on the small teen. They had found out that he was from the small town called Nibelheim, was 16 (though as Sephiroth had thought then and now possibly younger), only child and stood a whole 5'5". According to records he was in fact the smallest member in his class weighing in at 125lbs.

Cloud merely stared at the extended hand for a long moment before slowly taking a step towards the taller man. After what seemed like an hour, but was only a few seconds, the blond was finally standing in front of the other man and was stock still. Sephiroth and Angeal watched carefully as Genesis reached out his hand, devoid of its glove for a change and slowly started to touch the spiky hair. To say that it didn't feel good would have been a boldface lie. The red head raked his fingers through the blond hair and found himself marveling at how soft it actually was. If Cloud were a cat he was sure that he'd be purring at the attention as Genesis continued to rub along his scalp, though he was also thinking that he might simply pass out again. Sephiroth looked over towards Angeal with a smirk on his face before turning his attention back towards the other two.

"Dinn… oh!" Zack exclaimed before breaking into a big grin. "See Spiky, they aren't so bad." He added before ducking a glove that was thrown at him from Genesis. Cloud merely looked at Zack and nodded his head, still not trusting himself to speak properly. "Come on now." Zack said with a smirk as he watched his new friend stumble out to the kitchen before picking up one of the plates laid out and scurrying to one of the corners of the couch before taking a slow bite.

"Must you always ruin my fun?" Genesis asked sounding a bit miffed, though humor also laced his voice as he followed the other two into the kitchen. Coming out of the kitchen Genesis eyed the blond sitting alone on the couch for a moment but the seedy little plans forming in his mind were cut off as Sephiroth planted himself firmly next to Cloud. Genesis merely laughed a little at this and took a seat in a chair on the other side of the room. "Spoilsport." He said simply earning a chuckle from Angeal and snicker from Zack before everyone turned their attention to the strange smelling meal.

The food had barely touched their tongues before they were all pulling faces. They glanced at each other for moment and then to Cloud who by this point was looking more then a little sick before they spit the food back onto their plates. "By the Goddess Pup, what is this?!" Angeal exclaimed seeming to be the first one to find his tongue after it had run off screaming. Zack's face was still scrunched up for a few more moments before he finally answered.

"My ma use to make it… but it didn't quite taste like this." Zack said before wrinkling his nose at what he'd made.

"This tastes worse then the time Hojo made me drink poison to see what would happen." Genesis huffed out before wiping at his tongue with a napkin obviously trying to rid himself of the taste. Sephiroth said nothing but merely nodded in agreement with the statement. He had honestly expected some sort of surprised noise from the new cadet but when Cloud was oddly silent Sephiroth glanced down to see him now looking beyond ill.

"Cadet, are you all right?" He asked evenly, when he got no response he reached out and pushed back a limp spike and tried again. "Cadet Strife…" Still nothing. "Cloud!" He exclaimed and slowly the blond's gaze shifted towards him.

"S-sir." He said slowly. "I don't feel so well sir." He mumbled out slowly. At this Sephiroth nodded and gently took the plate away from the blond, stacking it on top of his and setting both on the small end table. Genesis, Angeal, and Zack all frowned a bit when they realized the effect Zack's strange attempt at cooking was having on the small cadet.

"Understandable Cadet, Zack's cooking should be used as a weapon in the next war." He said with a small smirk before gathering the small teen into his arms for the second time that evening. Cloud gave a small chuckle at the joke and would have laughed more, though in boyish delight at being held, if it weren't for the fact that he felt like his body was trying to kill him right that minute. Sephiroth carried Cloud back into the bedroom without another word and once again laid the teen down gently. Cloud watched his hero with wide blurry eyes the combination of being sick and overwhelmed at the same time was proving to be a bit too much for him. Needless to say the little blond was not a happy camper at the moment.

As Sephiroth stepped back from the bedside Zack scurried into the room looking apologetically at Cloud who tried to give him a small smile. Zack then looked to Sephiroth who merely chuckled lightly and patted him on the shoulder. "You're just lucky they have the weekend before classes start." He said with a small laugh though the look he gave Zack was slightly stern. The sound was music to Cloud's ears as he settled into the pillow shifting a bit to get more comfortable. He honestly didn't think he'd ever heard a more appealing sound then the sound of Sephiroth's sound, for a moment he couldn't help but wonder what the slightly older man would sound like in the bedroom before a small blush crept across his face again as his eyes slowly drifted close.

"Rest up cadet, I'll send someone to check up…" Sephiroth started to say but as he looked back down at Cloud he found the cadet asleep. Zack merely smirked at this and shook his head for a moment. The two then turned and made their way out, Zack making sure to close the door behind them. As soon as he was out of the room he was met with a much sterner expression then the one from a moment before and it was mirrored on the faces of the other two men in the room. Zack merely gave them a puzzled look. "We know he is pretty pup but what's he done to earn your trust so easily that you'd put your career on the line like this?" Sephiroth asked flatly.

Zack flushed for a moment, true you only need the approval from a SOLDIER to move into the room but what Zack hadn't told Cloud was that you needed the approval from a 1st class, which Zack wasn't, at least not quite yet. Zack looked at Angeal for a moment but the older man merely raised a brow obviously wanting an answer as well so then Zack looked at Genesis of all people for a moment like he would understand! Both Commanders were giving matching curious yet stern looks though Zack could pick up on a hint of anger in Angeal's eyes and amusement in Genesis's.

"I had to!" Zack finally blurted out. "I mean you see how small he is! Do you think he could honestly fend for himself right now before he gets some proper training?" Zack asked before biting his lip slightly debating on telling them the rest but foolishly hoping that what he'd given them would be enough. Though a gleam in Sephiroth's eyes clearly told him the jig was up.

"There is something else isn't there?" Zack met Sephiroth's gaze slowly which simply caused the General to sigh, the ebony haired young man obviously didn't want to say something. "Tell me now Zachary." He said leveling him with a glare and a growl. At this Zack sighed and ran a hand through his hair for a moment.

"Another cadet made some… unwanted advances on the ride here, that same cadet is twice Spiky's size and was slotted to be his roommate!" Zack said in a rush obviously not wanting to say anymore then was needed to get the point across.

"By the Goddess." Angeal muttered out before glancing to Genesis for a moment before fixing Sephiroth with a look causing the silver haired man to merely nod his head for a moment.

"In that case you did well Zack." He said simply before heading towards the door. "Come on, we've still got some scheduling to look over." He muttered out. It didn't take a rocket scientist for the others to know he was talking about Cloud's schedule. This caused Zack and Genesis to grin for different reasons as the followed Sephiroth and Angeal out of the small apartment.

They started to make their way down the hall as Genesis started to mutter to himself for a long moment before he spoke up. "Mmm maybe I could teach him to ride." As soon as the words left his mouth the other three stopped mid step and turned to look at the red head with matching shocked expressions. It was all really quite comical to Genesis before he shrugged his shoulders a bit. "I meant chocobo riding… damn perverts." He said with a smirk that said that clearly wasn't he meant at all. Sephiroth merely fixed the Commander with a look causing Genesis to burst out laughing in the hall.

"Oh come off it Seph, don't worry I'll take you saddle shopping and you can teach him all the riding you want." He said with a wink causing the General to roll his eyes despite the extremely faint tinge of pink that appeared across his cheeks.

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TADA!!! Chapter 2! A little shorter then I wanted but this was the best place to stop it.


	3. In Which Cloud Dances?

Whoa chapter 3 already?! O.O it's a bit longer then the last one, I don't think it's still as long as chapter 1 yet though, but the next one should be a bit longer then this one. Thanks to Hana for pointing out the curiousness of why they are so protective of poor Cloud already, I hopefully broke it down good in this one ^.^ *hands cookie* Also a shout out to Mizu, Kiti, Shirna, camillian, oztan and DisgruntledRabbit for having made through the terribleness that is Zack's cooking! XD Also DisgruntledRabbit you're reviews make me laugh so much! *hands cookie*

So this chapter goes to Hana and DisgruntledRabbit! *showers in cookies*

Also about Cloud, believe it or not my version of Cloud is based on two people, a little of me, the headphone wearing, GaGa belting squeal machine and my friend who happens to be a gay drag queen who dances like a stripper and has boundless energy!

Again disclaimers… chap 1, spelling, grammar etc. may fix later XD

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Chapter 3 – In Which Cloud Dances?

Saturday had gone by in a bit of a blur for Cloud, he'd woken up late feeling worse then he had the day after the Lady GaGa concert that his mum had let him go to before he'd left home. He'd drunk so much there he couldn't see straight for the next day and a half, all in all not an experience he wouldn't mind repeating. A good bit after he'd crawled out of bed Zack showed up to drag him out shopping with the bit of money that Cloud had come with. While they were out Zack had explained that since Cloud would most likely be using the room he was now in the whole time he was in school, unless by chance he found another SOLDIER to move in with, he was allowed to do what he wanted with it. Cloud had let out a gleeful squeal at this bit of information and had begun to rattle off ideas so quickly that Zack had been sure he'd missed about half of them. So Cloud spent much of the day being drug around Midgar by his new friend, not that he put up much of a fight though, before Zack finally took him to a paint store, while there Zack insisted that he pay for everything after poisoning Cloud with his evil food the night before.

And pay he did indeed, after all Cloud had spent the better portion of the morning airing out the small apartment to get rid of the smell! Paints in a variety of colors, brushes, rollers, cover sheets, painters tape and a small step ladder were purchased, which Cloud then somehow managed to make Zack carry all the way back to the Academy as well. The ebony haired young man still wasn't sure how Cloud had pulled that one off, seeming to only remember a pair of big blue eyes batting at him and a small pout. The fact that he had Zack would deny to the death especially if Angeal asked since his partner was always asking him to help with things and Zack was admittedly lazy. All in all it had been a whirlwind day and it was what now had Cloud standing in the middle of what was official his little apartment looking around and trying to decide where to start. He stared at the back wall for a long moment before finally nodding to himself and putting his ear buds in to get started.

Elsewhere in the next building over Sephiroth looked up from the stack of paperwork in front of him and glared at the door as it opened slowly but the glare dropped when he quickly realized that it was Zack creeping in and not Genesis, who was prone to hide in his office when trying to get out of meetings and appointments. He'd had quiet enough of the red head the day before when they had been tweaking Cloud's schedule so that he wouldn't have any classes with Cadet Leften. Slowly Sephiroth fixed Zack with a look and watched him as he came in looking around as though expecting the walls to try and eat him. Any other day Sephiroth probably would have found this amusing but he was a bit on the swamped side and had just gotten a friendly reminder phone call from Hojo about his upcoming appointment at the end of the week. God he hated that man.

"Angeal isn't here Zack, though he's not exactly happy that you didn't help us yesterday, nor is he to happy about the fact that you got back so late last night." The silver haired General said with an amused look creeping onto his face. At this Zack merely wrinkled his nose at his friend and flipped him off with a grin.

"You get way to much joy out of telling me things like that Seph." He grumbled as the grin slowly shifted into a neutral expression while he took a seat on the other side of the desk and leaned back as far as the chair would go. "So how did the great schedule shift go?" Zack finally asked when he was sure Sephiroth was telling the truth and Angeal wasn't lurking in the shadows waiting to pounce and beat Zack over the head with the Buster Sword.

"It took a little doing but we can keep Cloud with the other half of his class for all the classes except hand to hand, that is the only class they have as a whole group, so we decided that until he has at least the basics down, that whichever of us is free that period of the day will teach him one on one." Sephiroth explained while pushing back a long lock of his hair. He gave Zack a puzzled look as the younger SOLDIER burst out laughing. "What exactly is so amusing about that?" He asked sounding unusually miffed, which told Zack right away that the idea had been his.

"Nothing Seph, seriously, it's just if you could have seen the defeated look on Spiky's face the first night when it was obvious to him that he wouldn't get though the crowd at the meet and greet you'd get it. Not that the passing our in your presence wasn't a dead give away." Zack said finally bringing the chair back down onto all four legs. "Poor Spiky, his head might explode when he finds out he'll possibly be spending one on one time with you." Zack said letting with a laugh, making it seem like what he'd said was a mere slip of the tongue, but he could see the gleam in Sephiroth's eyes and knew that he'd been heard loud and clear. "Though I may have to get him a chastity belt if he's going to be alone with Gen." He added giving himself a little metal pat on the back before looking at the General with a raised brow. "So tell me all about it." At his request Sephiroth leaned back into his chair before telling Zack what he'd missed.

_The three crowded around Sephiroth's computer, Genesis trying to stick his head in the middle only to have it swatted to the side more then once by both Angeal and Sephiroth which earned the both of them many curses, glares and pouts for their troubles. After finally realizing that the three of them trying to look at the monitor, despite its rather large size, wasn't going to work for them he pushed a button to the side of his desk which lowered his projection screen, allowing the images from his computer to be easily seen by the other two, without him feeling like he was going to end up with a lap full of Genesis. With a few quick keystrokes he had both Cloud and Marcus's schedules pulled up and side by side. They hadn't even been up for a minute before Genesis was running at the mouth. "We could switch his hand to hand and swimming… I'd be more then happy to take care of his swimming class." He said with a grin. At this Sephiroth gave him a flat look._

"_If you think we're going to leave you alone with him in swim trunks you've obviously inhaled more glitter then is safe at the club." He said dryly earning a chuckle from Angeal which Genesis merely stuck his tongue out at him. _

"_Bitch, was just an idea." He said in a haughty tone. Angeal merely laughed a bit more from where he was now seated. And so it went the three of them bickering back and forth over changes that could be made until Angeal finally held up a hand to silence the other two and surprisingly, it worked._

"_You know their main class is split in half this year considering the size, except for hand to hand, it would be simpler to just move one of them to the other half." He said matter of factly which earned him a blank look from Genesis and a curious one from Sephiroth. It was that information, which should have been more obvious to them, that finally gave Sephiroth an idea._

"_I saw we do that and until he gets the basics down he'll have one on one lessons with which ever of us, including Zack or rather most likely Zack, are free that period of the day." At this the other two exchanged looks for a moment before looking back to him and slowly nodding their heads. Sephiroth proceeded to then throw a small note pad at Genesis's head for the perverted little smirk on his face. If he was thinking what Sephiroth thought he was thinking then he was still thinking about the blond in the swimtrunks._

At the bit of information he was given Zack giggled for a bit not surprised in the least over Genesis's antics while they had been trying to do something serious for the small teen. As his laughter slowly died down Sephiroth fixed him with a raised brow again and Zack shot him back a puzzled look. "So where was it you ran off to yesterday?" The silver haired man asked, curious about the other SOLDIERs disappearing act the day before.

"Well I took Spiky out shopping for some stuff to fix the room up and… yeah." He said trying his best to sound casual about the whole thing but the amused look Sephiroth shot him told him that he was busted.

"So in other words you felt bad for poisoning him with that terrible shit you called cooking so you took him out and bought him things." He said with an amused chuckle. Zack opened his mouth for a moment prepared to deny the claim when another voice chimed in.

"No denying it Pup, we all know how you are." Angeal said with an amused chuckle as he walked into the office while slipping his PHS back into his pocket. At this Zack simply turned a bit red and tried to sink down into the chair he was currently occupying, but rather then get a rap on the head like he was expecting Angeal merely leaned down and pressed a soft kiss to his temple, obviously he was pleased with Zack's actions after all. Zack beamed at this before standing up and offering Angeal the chair who took it quickly.

"Uh… where is Gen?" Zack asked looking towards the door expecting the red head to walk through the door any moment. At this both men looked a little grim and Zack had his answer before it was even said.

"He had an appointment with Hojo today." Sephiroth growled out. "We're expecting him shortly." At this Zack simply nodded before giving Angeal a kiss on the cheek and heading towards the door.

"In that case, I guess I'll go let Spiky know about his classes, though maybe I should take earplugs, goddess knows he's going to squeal." He said with a grin which earned a small chuckle from the other two men before he slipped out of the office and quickly made his way out of the building and over to the housing building.

As he approached Cloud's room he could clearly pick up the sound of Cloud's voice ringing out in the apartment and approached slowly wondering if maybe he had someone else over until he got close enough to make out what sounded like singing. Zack thought for a moment and pulled out the extra key that he had in his pocket that he'd meant to give Cloud the day before and slipped it into the lock. He opened the door and was met with a rather surprising sight, Cloud was dancing around the room and what was more surprising was that he was really quite good at it. In that moment Zack had such a devious thought he was sure that it would do Genesis proud and pulled out his PHS opening up the little video program that it had and started taping the impromptu show that the blond was now putting on.

"Let's have some fun this beat is sick, I wanna take a ride on your disco stick!" Cloud exclaimed, causing Zack to bite his cheek to keep from laughing. This went on for a few minutes before Cloud turned and let out a surprised shriek. "ZACK!" He yelled out his hand flying up to his chest. It was then that he noticed what was in Zack's hand and his eyes narrowed. "Are you tapping me?!" He yelled out. At this Zack pushed a button saving the file quickly and closed his PHS and slipping it into his pocket.

"Course not Spiky, message from Angeal." He lied easily with a big grin on his face. The look Cloud gave him told him that the blond didn't believe him one bit, nor should he, but he wasn't going to push the issue. He then tilted his head and looked at his friend of a long moment before glancing at the closed door and back again.

"Zack how the hell did you get in?" He asked slowly briefly wondering if being a SOLDIER gave you some sort of weird amazing ninja powers. Zack merely chuckled at the question and held up the key he used. Cloud merely held out his hand and Zack walked over to place the key in it.

"I meant to give that to you yesterday, forgot I had it." He said with a laugh while rubbing the back of his neck for a moment before finally looking around the now paint splattered apartment, it was interesting to say the least but Cloud had seemed like he was having a blast.

"Suuure you did." Cloud said with a laugh before swatting at Zack playfully before grabbing the snug black tee-shirt that was lying on the divider wall. "Something going on or just looking for a place to chill?" Cloud asked curiously while slipping the shirt on quickly. He wasn't about to complain if Zack wanted to just come and chill that was more then all right with him. He'd had a blast with his new found friend the day before, he honestly was sure he could say that Zack had learned more about him in the two days they had known each other then his best friend back home Tifa, fag hag supreme, had in the whole sixteen years that she had known him.

"Chill and I have some news for you." Zack said looking a bit shifty for a moment before flopping down on the couch. "We need to get you a TV." Zack said mournfully looking at the blank spot where his TV had once sat. At this Cloud merely sighed but let Zack ramble on for a moment about why he needed a TV. He had learned the day before that if he let him go Zack would eventually get back to what he'd been saying in the first place. "So anyway," he finally said after about ten minutes of why TV was soon important. "The powers that be, meaning Seph, Gen and Geal, tweaked your schedule a bit to keep you as far away from that Marcus guy as possible." He explained sounding as though he were merely telling Cloud that the sky was blue.

Cloud opened and closed his mouth a few times before his brow wrinkled slowly. "But how did they get me out of hand to hand, I know that's a full class period, there is no way I could avoid him there!" Cloud asked with a frown. At this Zack merely grinned again.

"Promise not to burst my eardrums and I'll tell ya." He said with wink. At the request Cloud merely nodded his head slowly picking up one of the small pillows from the couch and holding it to his chest. Zack couldn't help but notice how young the move made the blond look. "They decided, well Seph decided, that until you know the basics you'll be having hand to hand in one on one classes with whichever of us is free at the time." Zack said quickly before putting his hands over his ears waiting for the impending squealsplosion that was sure to come.

Cloud sat there for a long moment his eyes seeming to get wider and wider as each second passed before he quickly brought the pillow up and buried his face in it, the resulting squeal despite being muffled Zack was sure would have made a Bahamut cry. It had to have lasted a full five minutes before the blond finally started to lose pitch. It was moments like that that Zack couldn't help but wonder if Cloud had gone through puberty yet as the tones seemed just to damn high. As he finally let out a long sigh Cloud slowly lowered the pillow and looked over at Zack who in turn slowly lowered his hands from his ears.

"I don't get it Zack… Why are they… What did I…" Cloud trailed off running a hand through his hair obviously at a loss for words. Zack merely patted Cloud on the shoulder for a moment.

"Angeal is easy enough to figure out; you're my friend now so you're okay in his book. Genesis is even easier, and I mean that in every way." He said with a laugh which caused Cloud to grin like an idiot. "You're young and hot so in his mind ya'd possibly make a great playmate." He said with a wink which caused Cloud to blush. "Seph though, now he's a bit harder to guess, never known him to act like this with someone, so you'll have to figure that one out your own." He said with a laugh as Cloud's mouth opened and closed a few more time while he tried to wrap his mind around what he'd just been told. "The biggest thing in their book right now though is that shit that went down with that Marcus guy. They can't stand guys like that and neither can I." Zack said seriously before bumping Cloud's shoulder with his own before he slowly broke into a grin. "My first year I saw those three damn near rip this one guy apart for what he tried to pull with a younger cadet."

Cloud's eyes went wide at this bit of information but he supposed it all made sense in the long run. Them showing up at the room the other night looking for Zack, Genesis touching his hair and the things he said and now the three of them changing his class for him, he assumed that Zack had told them what had happened after he'd fallen asleep the first night. True it all made him feel like a bit of charity case but who was he to complain about any sort of attention that he got from all of them? He'd take what he could get.

So after a few more minutes of talking about his classes that were to start the next day Cloud went back to work with his painting. Zack rolled up his sleeves and joined in. Seriously who would pass up the chance to splatter paint on the walls? The two kept at it for the next few hours occasionally breaking into a small paint war up until Zack took note of the time and said his goodbyes. Once he was gone Cloud headed for the shower and climbed into bed, all his painting and dancing about finally catching up with him as he slowly drifted off wondering if he'd like his classes and silently thanking the "powers that be" for looking out for him, even if it was only for a little while.

Quickly making his way back into the office building Zack bounded into Sephiroth's office with a giant grin on his face which caused Sephiroth and Angeal to look at him curiously and Genesis to cringe from where he currently lay on the couch off to the side of the office. He looked a bit paler then normal but otherwise he seemed fine at least as far as Zack could see. "I have something that will make you feel better." Zack said in a sing song tone while pulling out his PHS and waving at the other three. "Seph let me use your computer." He said simply.

Sephiroth eyed him for a long moment before finally sliding a bit to the side so that Zack could get at the computer in front of him. He watched him click around his PHS for a few moments before he pulled up a screen that Sephiroth recognized as the mail page. He then watched as Zack opened up his mail having obviously just sent himself something. Zack must had sensed him trying to look over his shoulder because he moved so that Sephiroth's view was blocked a bit more from the screen. Finally the three heard another click before the large screen in the office came to life.

There was the cute little cadet suddenly on screen and rotating his hips in ways that no one his age should be able to, in fact Sephiroth was pretty sure it should have been illegal as he caught himself licking his lips. "Let's have some fun this beat is sick, I wanna take a ride on your disco stick!" On screen Cloud belted out while rolling his hips around and arching his back as he moved to smear some paint across the wall. "I wanna kiss you…" He trailed off singing softer as he danced around a bit more.

"Holy shit he's like a stripper! Can we, for the love of the Goddess, get this kid a pole!" Genesis asked the small wheeze in his voice easily noted by the other three in the room. Sephiroth on the other hand was beyond words at the moment his eyes fixed on the slender form putting on an unexpected show. He swallowed a few times trying to rid himself of the lump that was forming in his throat, his eyes darting back and forth just drinking in the movements each twist and turn as enticing as the one before it. What was it about the blond that he found himself so attracted to? Was it the soft blond hair and slender frame? Or maybe the wide innocent blue eyes and cute little smile, it could even be the ease with which he joked with Zack, a man that could clearly break him in two if he so wished. Perhaps it was a combination of all these things but Sephiroth could clearly see that the lust he was developing for the teen wasn't going anywhere anytime soon and in all honesty he wasn't sure that he wanted it to. It had been a year since his last serious relationship, if any sort of relationship with Genesis could be considered serious by any means.

"Let's play a lovegame, play a lovegame…" The little blond on the screen carried on bringing his arms up and rolling his hips down while using the momentum to turn himself at the same time while he lightly ran a brush along the wall. Sephiroth shifted in his seat a bit to get more comfortable and to take some of the pressure off of his currently growing problem as he continued to watch the appealing little display.

"Seph, I swear to the goddess, bed him or I will." Genesis muttered out just before on screen Cloud shrieked suddenly causing all of them to wince a bit and groan as he accused Zack of taping him. As the little video ended Zack and Angeal looked to Genesis and Sephiroth with matching amused little smirks on their faces. They could tell that Genesis was just plain horny for the blond now but Sephiroth, they still couldn't quite place him. Was he aroused? Yes, if the dilated eyes and slightly dazed expression were anything to go by, but there was still something else lurking just beyond that expression.

"Hot right?" Zack finally exclaimed with a grin. The lot simply nodded a bit and Zack winked at them. "You guys should catch the show in person sometime." He said with a laugh that hinted at something the others just couldn't quite grasp just yet.

"No one should be able to move like that unless they are getting screwed." Genesis muttered while lying and arm over his eyes. He'd already been wound up from his appointment with Hojo in a bad and that little display had only made matters worse in a good way, now he was grumpy, horny, and seriously thinking of strangling little Genesis for a while, audience in the office be damned!

"Zack has no problems moving like that when the occasion calls for it." Angeal purred out before wrapping an arm around Zack's waist and pulling him in for a long kiss. Sephiroth of course wasn't bothered by the affectionate display but Genesis, who had lifted his arm to look, wrinkled his nose slightly before giggling to himself suddenly.

"Ahh so you make the puppy dance for his supper?" He asked with an expression on his face that was as amused as he could muster at the moment despite the fact that he still felt like he was dying a bit on the inside. Angeal and Zack both merely rolled their eyes at the red head before turning their attention to the General who had just finally managed to clear his throat.

"Well that should make hand to hand a bit more interesting in a few days." He said while shifting in his seat once again. At his movements Genesis eyed him for long moment before laughing a little again and pointing an accusing finger at him and going a little wide eyed.

"You popped a boner didn't you?!" Genesis squawked out before finally bursting into an all out fit of laughter, he laughed so hard that he managed to roll himself off the side of the couch. "Son of…!" He yelped out before he hit the floor causing the other three to burst into laughter. Genesis looked up at them from his new position on the floor and glared at them for a long moment before flipping them off and then letting his head drop back down to the floor. "Owe."

"Idiot." Was the only response that was heard from the other three.

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As a side note there will be a poll on my author page for the next chapter (I already made it whether it's up yet or not I don't know .), which should Cloud have a run in with in the beginning of chapter 4, Genesis or Sephiroth? DUN DUN DUN!!!! XD Ta sweet peas!

Update 3/29 !!! That poll is now closed! A new poll has been posted! Should this story change to a Sephiroth/Cloud/Genesis fic? See my profile and cast your vote!!!


	4. In Which Classes Are Hell

On to chapter 4! Hints of yummy man on man in here and a delightfully flustered Cloud ahead! Also grammar issues galore I'm sure, as always may fix later, may not :P

Disclaimer: See chapter 1 other notes, see bottom.

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Chapter 4 – In Which Classes Are Hell.

Waking up was never once of Cloud's favorite things, why get up when his dreams were so deliciously amazing? In his dreams Sephiroth carrying him into the bedroom ended much differently and he also didn't squeak at every damn thing. The exchange with Genesis ended rather differently as well, but he was planning to keep that one to himself. On the subjects of his squeaking though, the "powers that be" as Zack so lovingly called them, seemed to like the squeaks it was the squeals that it seemed they could do without, so Cloud supposed it wasn't all bad.

Though the loud blaring alarm on the other hand, not that was indeed bad! Cloud slowly cracked an eye open and glared at the offending device with no small amount of disdain; in fact he was sure the look he gave it would frighten small furry animals. 5am! Who the hell thought that was a decent time to be up in the morning? In that moment as he slammed his fist down onto the noisy machine he swore to kick whoever it was that thought up the cadet's time table in the balls, right in the balls!

Grumbling to himself he crawled out of bed slowly and stumbled over to the closet pulling out his new cadet uniform. Semi baggy blue pants and a button down blue shirt of the same shade with the Shin-Ra logo on the side of the sleeve were what it consisted of. Not the most flattering outfit in his opinion but he supposed they were sadly more for function then fashion, not that he was much of a fashion plate mind you, he just knew what he liked, and this wasn't even close. Silently, while still glaring at the clock from time to time he pulled on the outfit along with socks and the new combat boots which those at least Cloud found sexy as hell but at the moment equally as uncomfortable as they had yet to be broken in.

Finally he gathered up the few books that he needed for the first half of the day and stuffed them into the bag he'd brought for classes and headed out the door and down to breakfast. He didn't stay in the cafeteria long as he wanted to get to his first class on time and as he made his way there he silently thanked Zack for showing him around on Saturday before they had gone out shopping. He even managed to point a few of his classmates in the right direction which earned him more then a few pats of thanks on the shoulder.

Eventually arriving at his first class he flopped down into one of the seats by the window after catching sight of some SOLDIERs outside stretching. He scanned the group for a moment looking for Zack but then took note of the color of the uniforms and realized that they were a group of 3rd classes, but damn they were still good to look at! The class itself was a history class of sorts though it was all about Shin-Ra's "glorious" history and Cloud had nearly been bored to tears, in fact his teacher had even had to snap at him a few times to get him to pay attention again as his line of sight kept straying out the window. Finally the bell rang releasing him from the hell that was history class and he filed out into the hall with the others. He'd barely gone ten feet from the room when something plowed into him from behind quickly sending him crashing face first into the wall.

"Well if it isn't the pretty from the truck." A gruff voice said causing the hair on the back of Cloud's neck to stand up. "Haven't seen you since we arrived Pretty, where have you been hiding?" Marcus asked while taking a few steps closer to Cloud who was already trying to figure out how to get away, his large blue eyes darting around the hall looking for an opening.

"Do we have a problem here?" A smooth voice purred out from behind Marcus. The larger teen turned quickly while Cloud finally managed to get a good look over his shoulder to see none other then Genesis in all his red leather bound glory standing there with his arms crossed in front of him. Cloud opened and closed his mouth for a moment trying to produce any sound other then a squeak or a sigh of relief but when none came Marcus took that as an opening to speak.

"No Sir, none at all. Just catching up, Sir." Marcus lied smoothly while shooting Cloud a look over his shoulder that clearly promised pain if the blond didn't agree with him. So Cloud did the safest thing he could think of and that was to merely nod his head in agreement and divert his gaze to the floor. Cloud had known guys like Marcus back in Nibelheim and had learned that it was far safer to just go with the flow. At the answer though Genesis clicked his tongue and tilted his head to the side before holding up his hand.

"Actually you see there is a little problem with this Cadet, as Cadet Strife, you know the little blond whose way you're currently in is now going to be late for an appointment with the General." Genesis said with a glint in his eyes. "So shall I explain to him that you were responsible for the little hold up or are you going to run along… now." He added while leaning forward so that he was face to face with Marcus, a smirk twisting its way across his mouth as the large teen paled.

"Please no Sir! My apologies Sir! Excuse me Sir!" Marcus spouted out quickly before throwing up a quick salute, which Genesis made no attempt to return, and running away from the slightly insane red head.

"With me Cadet." Genesis said to Cloud who merely muttered a soft "Sir." before following after him. He led Cloud through the halls and across the walkway to the office building and as soon as they were in the elevator Genesis rounded on him, cupping his chin gently and causing Cloud to hit an octave that was enough to make Genesis wince for a moment. "Are you all right little 'Bo?" He purred out while tilting Cloud's head slightly to the side.

"M-my cheek is-is sore sir." Cloud stuttered out, he was rather unnerved being this close to the commander and all alone with no Zack to make him feel more at ease but despite this he couldn't help but take note of how even more amazing Genesis actually looked up close. He knew the man was sexy, but damn, just damn.

"So tightly wound up aren't you?" Genesis said his voice still carrying the lilting purr while he ran a finger along Cloud's jaw. The blond went wide eyed at the feeling and backed up so fast that his head lightly thudded against the back of the elevator. Genesis moved forward and Cloud continued to watch the red head like he was a snake that was going to attack which honestly amused Genesis to no end, though he did indeed have a snake that would like nothing more then to attack the blond, this wasn't the time nor place for that at least. Ripping off one of his gloves he sunk his hand into the soft blond spikes without warning causing Cloud to let out what sounded like a squeak and a moan rolled together, all in all Genesis found it to be rather appealing. He smirked slightly and rubbed along the blond's scalp before leaning in a bit to breath into Cloud's ear. "Seeing as we were so rudely interrupted the last time." He said in a breathy tone. Cloud merely let out a whimper as the commander continued his ministrations.

Genesis leaned in a bit closer more then ready to mark the teen in some way when the elevator dinged. Letting out a growl at the machine he took hold of Cloud's arm and led him down the hall. Cloud barely had time to look around but he could clearly see the name plaque on the door before it was thrown open. 'General Sephiroth.' Cloud gulped as he was drug into the office and once inside he didn't know whether to sigh in relief or pout as the general was notably missing. He never got to make up his mind as he was lifted off the ground, seriously what was Genesis's deal with that? and planted firmly on the desk. Cloud tried to make sense of things for a moment but was cut off mid thought once again as Genesis swooped in quickly nosing his way along Cloud's jaw gently while his hand returned to it's former position in the teen's hair. Cloud was overwhelmed to say the least, true he'd fooled around back home once or twice before he left but it was nothing like this!

The little blond felt like he was on fire! Genesis sure knew what he was doing with his hands and Cloud kept wondering when he was going to wake with a hard on from hell and smash his alarm clock. But no annoying buzzing came and the amazing sensations only got… well… for lack of a better word, more amazing! The feeling of something warm and wet at his ear had Cloud letting out a string of colorful noises and curses which caused Genesis pause for a moment before he whispered into Cloud's ear. "So responsive and yet so shy, tell me my little chocobo, are you a virgin?" He questioned. Cloud could feel the other man smirking against the skin on his neck and started to blush heavily before nodding his head slightly. Genesis pulled back a bit and smirked at him for a moment before stepping away completely. "Good to know." He said with a small chuckle. "Now wait right here and don't move from this spot." Cloud merely nodded his head afraid that all that would come out if he opened his mouth would either be a squeak, squeal, moan or any combination of the three. "Good boy." Genesis said simply before turning and leaving the office, closing the door behind himself.

Once he was gone Cloud slowly tried to wrap his mind around what had just happened as well as will away the raging hard on he was now sporting. He'd been letting his mind wonder over what had just happened so much that at first he hadn't noticed the sound of footsteps getting closer as soon as he did though he started to think of the worst things he could trying to will the erection away. He could only imagine the look of disgust on whoever happened to walk through the door. Tifa in a bikini… kinda… Marcus in a thong… ew. The footsteps were getting closer. President Shinra naked! Oop… that did it. Cloud had disturbed himself so badly with the last one he honestly wondered for a moment if he would ever be able to get it up again. His eyes widened a bit as the door slowly opened to reveal Sephiroth with a stack of papers in one hand and his other holding his PHS up to his ear. As soon as Sephiroth had spotted him the papers fell to the floor and he suddenly held the PHS away from his ear and in front of his mouth as he yelled. "GENESIS I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!" Cloud winced a bit at the screaming and a bit more as the door to the office was slammed shut.

Sephiroth turned and eyed the blond for a moment before thinking back to the call he'd just gotten that had led him back to his office in the first place.

"_What do you want Genesis?" Sephiroth answered as Genesis's picture popped up on his PHS._

"_No need to be bitchy."_

"_I just finished up a meeting that someone was supposed to be attending." Sephiroth bit out. He then glared at the PHS as he heard laughter coming from the other end._

"_Aww don't be to mad at me sexy, I went out and got you something, brand new in fact never been used even!" Sephiroth merely gave a half hearted grunt into the annoying little device as he gathered his things. "It's in your office; I left it on your desk even." Genesis said and Sephiroth's eyes narrowed a bit at the tone of the red head's voice._

"_I swear to got Genesis if you left another vibrator on my desk wrapped in a bow, I'll kill you." The General hissed out low enough only to be heard by the other. Again Genesis laughed._

"_I swear no vibrator, but it does move an awful lot, makes some pretty interesting noises to." Sephiroth remained silent at this as he finally reached his office and opened his door to find Cloud sitting there on the desk blushing and obviously confused._

Sephiroth finally moved closer to the blond and that was when he noticed the light red mark on his cheek. Cloud suddenly felt very small again. Here he was, alone with the man he'd idolized and fantasized about for the past few years and he felt like he was about to burst into tears. Not sad tears though, but the kind of tears one cried when they found out that their parents had gotten them the skin tight pair of jeans that they'd been looking at for months! That was a great birthday for Cloud. A sudden hand on his shoulder had him squeaking loudly and blushing furiously as a deep chuckle followed.

Sephiroth then brought up his other hand and at first Cloud honestly couldn't figure out what he was trying to do at until Sephiroth gently tilted his head to the side. "What happened?" Sephiroth asked while lightly running a finger over the mark on Cloud's cheek. Cloud found he couldn't really help but meet the strong gaze head on, mostly due to the hand still against his cheek and he knew he had to be blushing if the heat he could feel in his face was anything to go by. He imagined he very much resembled a tomato at that moment.

"Ma-Marcus, Sir." Cloud mumbled out softly. At the look on Sephiroth's face Cloud knew, though he wasn't sure how, that he was being expected to elaborate on what had happened, so he did, at least up to the point where things got a bit interesting with Genesis. Sephiroth could clearly tell that Cloud was holding something from him but let it slide for now because he was now a bit more focused and just how perfectly the little blond's face rested in his hand and he also couldn't help but notice the intriguing scent coming from him as well. For a moment Sephiroth was planning on leaning in until his office door flew open causing Cloud to shriek and Sephiroth to wince and scowl at both the offending noise and the intruder.

"Spiky! You okay?" Zack shouted as he quickly charged into the office, managing to bump Sephiroth out of the way in his haste and gathered the small blond up in his arms. At being manhandled yet again that day Cloud let out an indignant squawk and flailed about a bit trying to break the other teen's hold.

"Zack! Put me down!" Cloud shrieked out, his voice reaching octaves that almost made Sephiroth and Zack want to cry. The blond continued to squirm around in Zack's grasp as the door opened and another voice joined the mix.

"Pup for the love of Shiva, put him down!" Angeal snapped out as he finally finished buttoning up the shirt he was wearing. Sephiroth looked at his usually very composed friend with a raised brow. "Well we were in the middle something when he got a call on his damn PHS and took off like Genesis just declared open season on his ass!" He grumbled while running a hand through his hair smoothing it back.

"I got a call from Kunsel, he said he saw Cloud get shoved by some guy and then Gen lead him away." Zack explained at this Cloud swung his leg back kicking his friend in the shin hard enough to surprise Zack enough to drop him. "The hell…?!" Zack exclaimed surprised by the strength behind the kick which earned him a glare from the tiny blond.

"You're keeping tabs on me?" He bit out. He was more then grateful for everything that they had all done for him but to find out that he was being watched on top of that? He knew that he was small and sure sometimes a strong wind could knock his skinny ass over but damn it all, it was the principal of the thing!

"Yes Cadet we are, for now at least." Sephiroth said speaking up and bailing Zack out as it was obvious that the younger SOLDIER wasn't quite sure what to say to appease his young friend. "It's merely a precaution at the moment, though I'm sure you don't blame Zack for being concerned." Sephiroth said looking down Cloud who looked back up at him with small blush coloring his cheeks. It was really quite an adorable shade on him. "Angeal bring Genesis in here and Zack why don't you take our little chocobo back to class." He said while absentmindedly running a hand over Cloud's hair. The blond's blush deepened as he caught himself leaning into the touch. Sephiroth merely gave a small smirk to the blond before a grinning Zack took hold of his friend's arm and led the blushing teen from the office.

It was as the two approached the elevator that they could clearly hear screaming from back down the hall. "ANGEAL PUT ME DOWN!!! AH YOU BITCHES!!" The two teens looked at each other and laughed a bit at poor Genesis before getting onto the lift.

Sephiroth was sitting behind his desk when Angeal drug Genesis in, looking for all intents and purposes like a sack of potatoes, a very large squirmy sack that swore a lot, but a sack nonetheless. Angeal finally set Genesis down on the ground and the red head glared at the two of them while crossing his arms in front of himself. "What did you do?" Sephiroth asked simply, his voice low and even. Genesis merely batted his eyes at him and shrugged his shoulders a bit.

"I don't know what you mean." He replied with a smirk creeping onto his face. At this Sephiroth was up and out of the chair with his hand carded through Genesis's hair yanking his head back so fast that even Angeal lost track of him for a moment.

"I'm not playing with you Genesis, what did you do?" he asked again though this time his tone was far more vicious and was accompanied by a low growl.

"Aww come on now sweets, you think I'd harm a hair on that pretty blond head?" At the nickname Genesis got a yank on his hair and another growl for his troubles. This merely made him realize that playtime was over… at least for the moment anyway until Sephiroth's non existent panties weren't in such a bunch. It wasn't until Sephiroth had gotten a little closer that he picked up on the same delicious scent he had smelled on Cloud. He quickly realized the scent for what it was it was the scent of Genesis and Cloud mixed together and it was just so tantalizing, not that he was about to tell Genesis that mind you, the man's ego was already big enough to choke an Ifrit.

"I pet his hair…" A swift yank on his own hair followed the statement. "Watch it!" He hissed. Complaining only earned him another yank. "All right already, I licked his damn ear!" At this the pull on his scalp lessened as Sephiroth removed his hand and Genesis could hear Angeal laughing lightly so he flicked his friend off before turning around to finally face Sephiroth. It was then that he noticed the look on the general's face. "You're turned on!" He said lowly with a smirk. "I'd recognize that look anywhere."

Angeal watched with little to no surprise as Sephiroth grabbed Genesis by the hair again and crashed their lips together. It honestly looked more like they were trying to eat each others faces but the small moan from Genesis said otherwise. Sephiroth broke the heated kiss for a moment and looked to Angeal. "Out now! Lock the door." He said quickly. Angeal simply smirked for a moment and did as asked. As soon as he was outside the office he could clearly hear the sound of someone getting thrown up against the wall. He'd no doubt that Genesis would be feeling this one in the morning.

Back inside the office Genesis tossed his head to the side as Sephiroth licked and bit his way down the smooth column of his throat. "He was so sweet, he even tasted sweet." Genesis gasped out as Sephiroth ground their hips together. If this was what thinking of the innocent little blond did to them he could only imagine what it would be like to get him into bed. Would they take turns or maybe make it a group thing? So many delightful thoughts but they were all chased out of his head as Sephiroth started to rip off his clothes. "I should send Blondie a fruit basket." He said with a wicked grin while making his way over to the couch.

"Mmm let me guess the fruit being you?" Sephiroth asked with an amused smirk as he climbed on top of the red head. Genesis didn't answer but the smirk on his face spoke loud and clear before he reached up and pulled the silver haired man in for more lip action.

In the other building Cloud continued to blush madly as Zack rattled off some rather interesting scenarios starring himself and Sephiroth and some even starring Genesis after Zack managed to pry out what else had gone down. "Oh! I got it! What about you Seph and Gen?" At this Cloud stopped mid step and looked at his friend like he'd just sprouted another head. Zack turned and noted the look before raising a brow. "What? It could happen! Gen wants to screw your brains out that much is damn sure and Seph I'm sure isn't to far behind." He said with a mad little grin thinking of all the good it could do.

Genesis would stop being such a slut… okay maybe that was a bit far fetched but he would hopefully at least calm down a little, Sephiroth would loosen up a bit more and Cloud would have more then enough protection. It was all really quite perfect in the puppy's mind. "Oi, what class are you suppose to be in right now?" Zack finally asked the blushing blond as they rounded a corner. "Battle Strategy." Cloud mumbled out as Zack continued to lead the way and went back to his ramblings. As nice as it sounded and as much as it seemed Zack might be right Cloud didn't want to get his hopes up.

As they approached the room Zack pushed the door open quickly and almost got an earful from the teacher until he realized who it was that was now in the room. "Sorry Teach, Cadet Strife had a meeting with the General, ran long." He said simply and even at the teacher's curious expression he made no attempt to offer more information so the teacher simply nodded his head and pointed towards an empty seat for Cloud to take. Zack then gave the little blond a wave goodbye before he disappeared back out of the room. Cloud sunk down into the seat and let out a small sigh before pulling out the class textbook and he half listened as the teacher started his lecture back up.

The rest of the class period was spent ignoring stares, whispers and questions from his classmates. It was easy enough to do but really made him feel more alone then he had since he got there. Had it really been only four days since he's arrived there? It was all moving so fast, not nearly as fast as Genesis but fast nonetheless. That was another thing, the little blond was quickly finding himself as equally attracted to Genesis as he was to Sephiroth and he found it confusing to no end.

"STRIFE!" A voice bellowed out from the front of the room pulling Cloud from his thoughts. He jumped slightly in his seat and turned a slightly guilty gaze towards his teacher. "Glad to see you're still with us Cadet." The teacher snipped out before returning to the lecture that he had been giving. Cloud went back to listening for all of five minutes before he zoned out again lost in his own thoughts.

Sadly the rest of the day went much like that long boring classes filled with him getting yelled at by his teachers for spacing out and his fellow classmates eyeing him up and coming to their own conclusions about why he had a meeting with the General of all people. He was called everything from Space Cadet to SOLDIER slut, not quite the impression he had wanted to make on guys he'd be spending the next few years with but at the moment there wasn't much he could do to change it so he ignored it as best he could. He stared at the clock willing for it to strike 4pm and when it did he damn near breathed a sigh of relief as he grabbed his stuff and hurried from the room. By the time he'd reached his own room he was beyond mentally drained; he hadn't quiet been expecting such long class periods that reminded him so much of the school that he'd left behind.

Slipping the key in the lock he pushed the door open slowly only to have his nose assaulted by the delicious scent of something coming from the kitchen area. He crept into the room slowly making his way towards it when he was suddenly scooped up into a familiar pair of strong arms for the second time that day. "ZACK! PUT ME DOWN!" He shrieked out. Zack having learned his lesson earlier in Sephiroth's office quickly set the fiery blond down and ruffled his spikes a bit.

"You look beat Spiky, long day?" Zack asked with an amused grin which earned him a glare from the younger teen. "I'll take that as a yes." The ebony haired SOLDIER said with a laugh. The blond scowled for a moment before he gave his friend a curious look.

"Please tell me you're not cooking again!" He exclaimed while paling slightly. "And how the hell did you get in here?" He asked as an afterthought. At this Zack rubbed at the back of his neck while another voice chimed in.

"I'm cooking and as for getting in, you'd be surprised by how many keys he had to have made when this was Zack's room." Angeal explained walking out of the little kitchen area while drying his hands before laying three more keys down on the little end table. Cloud's eyebrow twitched a little at this while glancing towards Zack for a moment before turning his attention back to the 1st Class.

"Actually I don't think it would surprise me at all Sir." He said flatly before letting out a squeak as he was suddenly tackled to the small couch by a playfully scowling Zack.

"Oi! You call him sir but not me! I'm you're superior to ya know!" Zack exclaimed with a laugh which caused the small blond below him to erupt into a fit of laughter of his own.

"See Seph I told you we should have gotten here sooner, now he'll have puppy slobber all over him." Genesis exclaimed as he made his way into the small room. Sephiroth merely gave a silent chuckle and shake of his head as Genesis then lifted Zack off Cloud as though he weighed nothing and tossed him towards Angeal. "Can't you keep this on a leash?" The red head asked with a bat of his long lashes. Cloud turned a brilliant shade of red as Genesis looked down at him with a look that bordered on hungry.

"Forgive me for asking sirs but what are you all doing here?" Cloud mumbled out while sitting up and looking down at the floor and shuffling his feet a bit making himself look even younger. A finger hooked under his chin and tilted his head up until he found himself looking Sephiroth in the eye.

"Always keep your head up when you speak." He said before trailing his finger along Cloud's jaw for a moment and then letting his arm fall back to his side. Cloud nodded mutely and raised a brow obviously still waiting for an answer.

"The pup still feels bad about that little food fiasco your first night here so he begged me to cook for you." Angeal said with a slight grin.

"I bet he begs real pretty to." Genesis chimed in with a raised brow followed by a quick lick of his lips. If it was possible Cloud turned even redder from the little display. "Careful Blondie, you might bust something." He added with a wink. Cloud brightened a bit more before quickly jumping up and running into the bedroom slamming the door behind himself which caused Genesis and Zack to snicker while Angeal and Sephiroth merely exchanged raised brows.

Cloud went wide eyed as the door slammed home and he couldn't help but wonder what the hell had possessed him to run out of the room like that. He took a few minutes to collect himself before he slowly opened the door back up. He crept back into the main room slowly looking for the entire world like a bashful Chocobo. "Come on 'Bo relax." Genesis said before moving over to where Cloud was and slipping an arm around his shoulders. Cloud lit up like a Christmas tree again sending Zack into peels of laughter and Angeal merely shook his head as he walked into the kitchen.

"Genesis." Sephiroth growled out in warning which simply earned him a cheeky grin from the red head.

"What? I could have just asked him if he wanted to ride my discostick you know." He said with another grin. At this Cloud's mouth dropped open and he went wide eyed for a moment before glaring at Zack who turned a brilliant shade of red.

"Zack… You! How did...? How could…?" Cloud stammered out becoming his usually wonderfully articulate self in front of the SOLDIERs.

"Relax little 'Bo, we're thinking of getting you a pole now." Genesis added with a wiggle of his eyebrows. Cloud's face went beet red before he hit the ground once again. "He really is fond of doing that isn't he?" The red head asked with an amused tone while picking the light teen up.

"I am so dead when he wakes up." Zack muttered out causing the other three to nod their heads.

"Indeed you are." Sephiroth said simply before taking the small blond from Genesis's grasp and carrying him into the bedroom once more.

When Cloud woke a few minutes later he sprang up with every intention of running out and killing Zack but before he could even make it to the door he was scooped up again but the arms were familiar and yet not. "Do try to avoid killing Zack; he does have his rather useful moments." A low voice rumbled out with a chuckle. Cloud went very still had he quickly realized who it was that was holding him before his little tantrum over Zack kicked back up making him not really care for a moment.

"I can't believe him." Cloud huffed out letting his body relax a little, making no effort to get away from Sephiroth. This pleased the young man to no end and caused him to smirk lightly as he leaned down so that his mouth was next to Cloud's ear.

"You know Cloud," He said purring out the teen's name in a way that went right to the blond's groin. "I do believe that this is the first time that you haven't squeaked in my presence." He murmured out before giving said blond's ear a quick lick causing the missing squeak to happen and Sephiroth to chuckle a bit. "Ah, there it is." He followed the statement up with another small lick causing a whimper from Cloud. "Mmm, Genesis was right, you are sweet." He said evenly but with an underlying husky tone to his voice which earned him another whimper which turned into a faint whine as he slowly pulled away from the blond and opened the door before stepping back out into the main room.

As soon as Sephiroth was out of the room Cloud flopped back onto the bed and buried his face into the pillows while muttering a soft curse to himself. He wasn't exactly sure what the hell was happening or what the two SOLDIERs were playing at but he could only assume that his one on one, hand to hand sessions were going to be a lot more interesting, or at least he couldn't help but hope that they would be.

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Sort of a blah ending but it was the best spot to end this chapter. I still have a poll up on my author page about turning this into a Seph/Cloud/Gen fic for sure so be sure to cast your vote!

Rating will be going up next chapter, be afraid, be very afraid XD

Also thank you all for your amazing reviews I can only hope to continue to keep you entertained with my sick little mind.


	5. In Which Cloud Is Puzzled

All right kiddies there will be few laughs in this chapter and much drama and I'm digging into the fact that our favorite Soldier Boys are a little crazy and poor little Cloud will finally start to realize what he's possibly getting himself in to!

Disclaimers: See Chapter 1

Also: Poll results at the bottom! And as always spelling and grammar not checked by anyone but me, so mistakes may or may not be fixed later... I'm lazy... you've been warned XD Rating will be M from here on out... Genesis has a potty mouth and he will be slutting it up in the coming chapters. *grins*

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Chapter 5 – In Which Cloud Is Puzzled

The rest of the week passed by being made up of long mind numbing classes and homework that honestly made him want to cry like the little queen he knew he was. Honestly he didn't even remember having this much homework in high school and the teachers back home loved giving it out. He also couldn't say he was all that surprised when the only SOLDIER he saw the rest of the week, after being missing as well for two days himself, was Zack. The group had seemed rather upset the last time he'd seen them, when they had learned of the inadvertent nicknames that they had earned him. He had tried to explain to them that he wasn't overly concerned with reputation. He hadn't been back home and he really didn't see the point of worrying now, though it seemed his words had fallen on deaf ears after a point as he thought back on it.

"_So how where the rest of your classes Spiky?" Zack asked before stuffing a bunch of rice into his mouth. Cloud stared at him for a moment before he realized that the others where looking at him as well._

"_A bit boring actually." He started before a small blush crept up on his cheeks. "Though I had some trouble paying attention in the last few." He mumbled out causing Genesis to chuckle a bit._

"_I can't imagine why that is." The red head said before a smack was issued to the back of his head from Sephiroth. "Bitch." He hissed out while rubbing the back of his head and smoothing his hair back down. Cloud gave a small giggle at this and was honestly awed by the antics between the group of men before him._

"_Did any of the others bother you aside from Cadet Leften?" Sephiroth asked while pushing his now empty plate aside and eying the blond carefully._

"_Oh no sir, they were pretty thankful this morning when I was able to show them the way to class, thanks to Zack." Cloud said brightly, though it faded slightly as the nicknames popped into his head. "But…" He trailed off._

"_But what?" Genesis asked now paying full attention to the blond. He hadn't like the way his face had dimmed even a bit._

"_It's silly really." Cloud said with a shake of his head. "Some of the guys started calling me Space Cadet, since I couldn't really focus…" He said and meant to stop there but the looks that others were giving him prompted him to continue. "A few of the others though, I guess the ones that saw me being picked up and dropped off called me a SOLDIER Slut." He added before taking a bite of his meal. _

_His chewing slowed a bit as he took note of the annoyed and irritated faces of the other four and he couldn't help but tilt his head a bit at them._

"_I told you something like this would happen." Sephiroth hissed out glaring at Genesis. The red glared right back at him and crossed his arms in front of himself._

"_And when exactly did you tell me that? When you had your tongue down my throat?" He snapped back._

_The two bickered back and forth for a moment with Angeal and Zack occasionally jumping in on one side or the other and it started to make Cloud's head spin a bit. Had he known it would cause all this, he would have happily kept his mouth shut._

"_Sirs, really its…" He trailed off when he realized that they were no longer listening, to caught up in their own arguments to hear his own soft voice attempt to chime in. With a sigh he shook his head and turned his attention back to his dinner._

Thinking about that dinner turned his thoughts back to wondering what the SOLDIERS were up to, Zack had told him that he'd done nothing wrong and that the three were busy with important SOLDIER business, but truth be told Zack just didn't have the heart to tell the blond that the three were currently going out of their minds after long "appointments" with Hojo. Zack had been to see the crazy bastard as well but as he was still only a 2nd class his "appointments" took less time to recover from, most of the time. They all handled it differently, Sephiroth got angry and sometimes horny, Genesis got hornier, if that was possible, and sometimes angry, not that he remembered any of it. Angeal, poor thing, just got the flu and Zack mellowed out and would simply get a cold that would last about a day or two. So the days had been pretty uneventful and Cloud had crashed early on Friday night, despite offers from a few classmates to hang out.

Cloud woke suddenly as he felt himself rolling off the side of his bed and as he hit the floor with a squeak he was greeted by the warm laughter of Zack. He cracked open an eye slowly and glared at the older teen. Zack merely doubled over laughing at the expression and fell onto the bed. Cloud grumbled from his new position on the floor and squeaked out as he was hoisted up by the back of his night shirt and back onto the bed then snuggled like a stuffed animal.

"Zack I'm not a damn plushie!" Cloud squawked out. Zack merely laughed at him again and snuggled a bit more. He may have said something else but Cloud wasn't to sure because the next thing he knew it was two hours later and he was laying on something firm. He shifted slightly to find himself laying half on top of Zack and giggled a bit. He'd always told his mom he'd get a SOLDIER into bed, this just wasn't what he was expecting. His friend had to have been tired to pass out like that. He didn't have time to think of much else as he was suddenly pulled from the bed from behind. He didn't even have time to squeak before Zack's eyes flew open and he was looking at whoever it was that was holding Cloud.

"Come on now Gen, put him down." At this Cloud glanced back as best he could to find it was indeed Genesis holding home and looking rather crazed to boot.

"You shouldn't touch what isn't yours Zachary." Genesis hissed out before running a hand along Cloud's neck. Cloud honestly didn't understand what was going on and if he wasn't so scared right now he'd probably be rather turned on by the red head's touch, but all he knew for sure right then was that Genesis's grip on his arm was really starting to hurt. He let out a pained whimper which earned him a rough kiss to the temple and a shushing sound from Genesis. Before he could really register things though Cloud was thrown forward and caught by a waiting Zack.

Genesis let out a whine of his own and Cloud looked to see what had happened and found that Sephiroth was now in the room as well and by the looks of it he had a firm grip on the red head despite his struggling. Genesis thrashed around in Sephiroth's grasp but the silverette managed to muscle him out of the room and slam the door behind him. "Zack the door." Zack nodded and braced himself against the door as Genesis could clearly be heard banging against it on the other side. "Are you all right?" Sephiroth asked crouching down so that he was eye level with Cloud who was now sitting on the edge of the bed. Said blond looked at him with large alarmed eyes.

"What… W-what the hell just happened?" Cloud stuttered out slowly. Sephiroth gently took hold of the teen's face, honestly wanting nothing more then to throw him across the bed himself and screw him silly but he was managing to control himself for the moment.

"Cloud, did he hurt you?" He asked sternly using the blond's first name seemed to always get his attention.

"My arm is a little sore." He murmured out softly eying Sephiroth carefully as if he might attack him as well. "Your eyes sir…" He trailed off not quite sure what to say exactly. The usually beautiful green eyes seemed even brighter, almost to the point that they seemed to be glowing.

"I'm aware and you'll be all right by the looks of it." Sephiroth said quickly while looking over Cloud's arm carefully. "As for what just happened Zack will be able to explain things to you once I get Genesis out of here."

As if sensing his name Genesis started beating on the door with a force that shook the metal door on its hinges. "YOU FUCKING BASTARDS!" He roared out on the other side. Cloud jumped at this and grabbed Sephiroth's hand. The General looked down at Cloud for a moment before bestowing his own kiss to the startled blond's temple quickly before turning away and nodding to Zack. The slightly younger SOLDIER nodded and stepped away from the door allowing Sephiroth to open it quickly and slip out before closing it behind himself.

Sephiroth pushed Genesis back away from the door causing the usually graceful red head to stumble for a moment before he lunged at the silver haired man. The two met in a twisted mass of limbs both trying to overpower the other, one trying to protect the door and the other trying to smash it in. "Get out of my damn way!" Genesis hissed out. Sephiroth used his slightly longer legs to kick Genesis's out from under him and smashed him against the floor, glaring down at him.

"Get a hold of yourself Genesis, you're scaring Cloud." Sephiroth snapped back. It had been a long time since he'd seen his friend and sometimes lover like this but then again it had been a little while since they had "appointments" like the ones they did recently. Genesis strained against his iron like grip and began, what Sephiroth could only assume was, whining.

"I just need to be near him, he's ours… Zack shouldn't…" Genesis trailed off and Sephiroth watched as his eyes glazed over a bit. He was running out of steam and would tire soon, there was no mistaking that, he'd seen it to many times to mistake it for anything else. There was also no mistaking the fact that in this state the red head wanted Cloud more then President Shinra wanted cake. Sephiroth sighed slightly before looking back towards the door.

"Zack, bring Cloud." He called out to the two who had been listening to the exchange from the other side of the door. Cloud looked at Zack with wide eyes and wasn't completely sure if he wanted to go out there, not knowing what he would see not even knowing what to expect to see. Zack put a hand on his shoulder and flashed him a comforting grin causing Cloud to sigh a little at it but he slowly nodded his head and allowed Zack to open the door.

Cloud couldn't help but gasp at what he saw once they were out of the room. Both Sephiroth and Genesis were sweating slightly, but Genesis looked far worse between the two of them. His hair was soaked, clinging to his forehead and his usually pleasant pale skin was a sickly looking shade of grey. Without a second thought for his own well being Cloud hurried over to the two and falling to his knees he placed a hand on Genesis's forehead. This seemed to be the right thing to do as he stilled considerably to the point where Sephiroth was able to lessen up on the pressure that he was using to keep Genesis in place. Genesis looked over at Cloud slowly and pushed his face up against the cool hand, the coolness of it was such a welcome relief from the fire raging inside himself.

"What's wrong with him?" Cloud whispered out not taking his eyes off the obviously sick man while running his hand gently along Genesis's forehead. Sephiroth merely looked at him for a long moment, blinking slowly as he did so before looking at Zack.

"This is why you haven't seen them Spiky." Zack said kneeling down next to Cloud just in case Genesis decided that now was a good time to pull something. "Every month SOLDIERS have an appointment with a professor named Hojo, a real whack job of a guy." Zack started to explain spitting out the name as if it were poison. "Seph, Gen, and 'Geal get the worst of it, Hojo treats 'em like their his little lab rats or something." He continued on earning him a look from Sephiroth. "Don't look at me like that, you know he does, I don't care if there is a rumor about him being your dad, its bull in my opinion. Not that you're exactly fond of the idea yourself." Zack said with a huff before crossing his arms after he decided that Genesis wasn't a threat right then.

Cloud bit his lip for a moment as he looked at Sephiroth only to find the man already staring at him. It was as if he was searching Cloud's face for something, maybe some sort of reaction to everything he was being told right then. "If I make it into the program someday, will this happen to me?" He asked softly. Sephiroth was actually surprised by the question though it didn't show on his face. It was surprising to him to hear the blond sounding so calm about what he was hearing, what he was seeing, when he'd fully expected him to squeak and pass out.

"If you have a positive response to the mako treatments then… yes." He said slowly and evenly with a bit of pause as he didn't want the information to discourage the blond but he also didn't want to lie to him about any of it. Cloud bit his lip again for a moment, looking away from him and then looking back at Sephiroth before slowly reaching over and lightly touching his face with his free hand. It was a bold move for Cloud, but it had honestly seemed like the right thing to do right then.

"Well I guess whatever happens, happens." He said with a small sigh. In all honesty though Cloud could hardly believe what he was being told and in his mind he was very much having a freak out session. He'd heard rumor of SOLDIERs having bad reactions to mako, some even needing to be hospitalized for a day or so after the treatment, but this bad? Going seemingly out of their minds? Was it worth it? The thoughts left the blond's head spinning for a moment as he tried to piece them together.

Sephiroth turned his head slightly and ghosted a kiss over his palm before pulling back away, he could smell the panic coming from the blond and it was rather intoxicating to him right then. Cloud merely stared at him wide eyed trying to be sure he felt what he had felt when Sephiroth quickly stood, picked Genesis up and turned towards the door. "Zack make sure they get up here to fix the door." Zack nodded but didn't say anything. Sephiroth looked over his shoulder for a moment glancing at Cloud. "I am sorry for this Cloud, I'm sure Genesis didn't want you to find out this way, none of us did." He said while glancing down at the man in his arms for a moment.

"It's all right sir." He murmured softly. He might have said it was all right but truth be told Cloud was more terrified then the time he'd come out to his parents, though with the barbies and tight jeans, they couldn't really even pretend to be surprised, his mother calling him gayer then a unicorn farting a rainbow and partly blamed him being gay on the fact that his grandmother had knitted him a rainbow colored baby blanket. Sephiroth gave the blond a fleeting smirk trying to show that he understood before heading out of the small apartment with Genesis in tow. As soon as the two were gone from sight Zack moved to set the door to rights and turned back to find Cloud now sitting on the edge of the couch looking rather lost. He reminded Zack of a kid who'd just lost him puppy.

"Don't worry Spiky, it isn't always that bad." He said trying to lighten the mood a little.

"That's not what bothers me." Cloud muttered out drawing his knees up to his chest. Zack quirked a brow at this but didn't say anything. "What bothers me is that is gets that bad at all." He said laying his forehead against his knees. "To know that it isn't the first time you've all suffered through this, it makes me wonder if the program is worth all that." He said with a sigh.

Zack nodded his head at what his friend was saying, he understood what the blond meant and it's true it was a little personal slice of hell going through the treatments but the sense of brotherhood that he shared with the others in battle, the bonding that took place over the years spent together, not to mention the mind numbingly amazing rough sex, made it all seem worth it in the end. And that's exactly what he told Cloud, though he left out the bit about sex, not wanting to scare his friend away from it. The blond seemed hesitant at first but the more he thought about it he realized that making it into SOLDIER and getting the mako injections was the only way he'd really be able to handle being involved with a SOLDIER, if that's what he really even wanted anymore after Genesis's little territorial display.

He realized that if he got involved with Genesis or Sephiroth now they would have to be so careful with him and he would have to be careful around them when they got like this. He wasn't made out of glass but they would no doubt treat him like he was and he knew he would get tired of it quickly no matter how attracted to them he was. That thought in mind, whether it panned out or not, was the deciding factor for the blond. He could only hope that he'd make it though everything he needed to in the basic program and react well enough to the mako to get into the elite program. He didn't say much of anything else as he sat there with Zack and merely half watched as two Shin-Ra workers showed up to repair the door. Cloud could now understand why all the doors in the building were made of a thick metal.

Zack only stayed for a bit more after that before heading off to check on Angeal finally leaving Cloud alone with his thoughts. The blond had long since shifted to a laying position on the small couch and continued to lay there for a while longer, all manner of thoughts running through his head about the events from earlier in the day. He'd heard what Genesis said about him being theirs and it had left Cloud spinning adding everything else he'd been told to it and Cloud honestly didn't know how to take what he'd heard. Was it a drug induced thought or did they really have that sort of interest in him? He honestly couldn't wrap his head around that bit and at the moment he wasn't sure he wanted to.

Pushing himself up from the couch with a sigh, he wondered over to the stereo and flipped on some Snow Patrol before heading over to the dresser. He opened it slowly and eyed the innocent looking pack of cigarettes for a long moment before picking them up and tapping one out of the pack. It wasn't often that he smoked but when he was stressed out they always seemed to calm him a bit. He supposed it was because the smell reminded him of his dad, as the man usually had a cig hanging out of his mouth. As strange as it sounded in his own mind he suddenly felt the urge to call home, who knew, maybe it would help him sort through his mess. He took a few more puffs and crushed the cigarette in the small ashtray he had before grabbing his keys and heading from the room.

He made his way down the hall quickly and quietly as he wasn't even sure what time it was anymore having lost all track of it thinking. It seemed like hours since everything had happened. He picked up the phone and dialed the number quickly, tapping his fingers on the small desk as he waited for someone to answer. To be honest he wasn't even completely sure what time it was at home either.

"Hello?" A gruff voice answered having a calming effect on Cloud almost instantly.

"Dad, hey." He said with a small grin creeping across his face and with that the two chatted up a small storm, Cloud telling him about classes and such. Also about meeting Zack and becoming fast friends. It was at that point that Marcus Strife cleared his throat.

"I get the feeling you want to talk to your mum kiddo." The older man said before he could be heard calling to his wife.

"Cloud what's wrong?" The woman asked as she finally got on the phone. They weren't sure why but Sara Strife had always had a knack for knowing when something was wrong or upsetting her baby boy. They weren't sure if it was a mother thing or just plain odd. It was just the way it was with her.

"Nothing wrong Mom, I'm just confused is all." Cloud muttered out before spilling his guts to the woman and telling her everything that had happened and what he'd found out about the program. As he finished he heard her let out a long sigh on the other end of the phone it was followed by a long pause as well and Cloud could only assume she was gathering her thoughts together.

"I can't say I like the sound of that mako stuff nor the fact that those guys are so much older then you, but I also know that trying to stop you from doing something you want is a fool's dream." She said with a dry laugh and it was true, the woman had fought tooth and nail to keep Cloud from leaving but he'd up and gone anyway, he felt like he had to in some way, but that was a whole other story. "I'll just say be careful and watch out for yourself, though that Zack seems to be watching out for you to." She said with a small laugh. "Just remember sweetie, its better to try a relationship then not and wish you had later." She added touching a bit on the subject of Genesis and Sephiroth.

With that Cloud bid his parents goodbye shortly after before heading back to his room, the only sound in the quiet hall were his soft footsteps and the slight jingling of his keys. Glancing at the clock on the wall as he opened the door and let himself back in, the red numbers blared 1:27am back at him. Had he really been on the phone that long? It hadn't seemed like it but he supposed it was true, considering that he'd just told each of his parents a weeks worth of stuff, though one was slightly longer then the other. He glared at the clock again before flopping down on the couch with a small grunt and just he just laid there staring at the ceiling as though hoping it held all the answers he was looking for right then. His mind continued to swim for a few moments but he finally closed his eyes and willed his mind to be silent and still, he just didn't want to think anymore about any of it, at least not right then.

* * *

End Chapter 5

Sorry for the drama kids but I tried to throw a few humor lines in there and next chapter will be the end of the weekend and the start of hand to hand classes! Dun… dun… dunnn…

All right poll results: Should Every Chocobo Has Its Day become a Seph/Clo/Gen fic?

40 of you were nice enough to answer and 37 of you said HELL YES! So from this point out this story will be just that.

But for all you Seph/Cloud lovers out there don't worry! When this version is all said and done I will be going back and posting a version of ECHID that is just Seph/Cloud called Every Chocobo Has A Seph/Cloud Remix!, poor Gen will have to find someone else to bugger. XD Though I hope you will all continue to read the story because there will still be plenty of Seph/Cloud in the story… what Genesis isn't always around you know, he goes on missions sometimes… XD


	6. In Which Zack Declares Mortal Kombat?

Sorry for the delay folks everyday life has sort of been getting me down which has been a real muse killer. Anyway quick note, I feel about poor Squall the same way I feel about Cloud, that he was shafted when it came to personality so from here on in you'll meet my version of Squall aka Leon ^.^ Be nice to him… he may cry. Also as always I may or may not go back and fix any typos and grammar issues.

Disclaimers: See Chapter 1

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Chapter 6 - In Which Zack Declares Mortal Kombat?

Opening a blurry jade eye slowly, Sephiroth let out a long sigh as he looked over to see Genesis sitting on the edge of his bed with his head hanging rather low. Honestly he wanted nothing more then to bury his own head under the pillow but the distraught look on the other man's face stopped him from doing just that. "What's wrong?" He asked with another sigh before shifting to lay on his side while he looked at the other man intently.

"I remember bits of yesterday, I remember waking up here, but I don't remember leaving, I don't even know how the hell I got out of here with all the damn locks you have! I do remember seeing the chocobo though, but he looked scared." He said with a sigh of his own while running a hand through his hair. "What the hell did I do Seph?" He asked looking honestly bewildered.

Reaching up, Sephiroth grabbed hold of the red head and pulled him to his chest before lying back down and brining the other man with him. "Well you mumbled something about Cloud before you'd passed out at one point earlier yesterday so I asked Zack to go and watch Cloud just in case you managed to get out of here." Sephiroth explained and as he did Genesis winced a bit seeming almost afraid to hear the rest but he said nothing to stop the man from continuing. "You got a little possessive is all." He finally said. "Zack and I kept you from doing anything damaging, but I don't think you'd have hurt Cloud either way." Sephiroth added for good measure, trying his best to be reassuring even though that wasn't exactly his best area; it was honestly more Angeal's thing than his.

Genesis looked genuinely alarmed at what he was being told he'd done and Sephiroth honestly felt bad for him but he couldn't really think of anything to say to lessen the guilt any. "Don't worry, he seems stronger then we're giving him credit for. I'm sure he's all right. I'm also pretty sure Zack would have said something if he wasn't. He stayed with Cloud for a bit after I got you out." He said holding Genesis tightly to himself and pressing a kiss to the back of his head.

"How the hell will he be able to be around me after that shit?" Genesis muttered out before slowly falling back into a fitful sleep.

Sephiroth kept a firm grip on the other man as he dropped off and hoped for everyone's sake that Cloud was indeed all right. He honestly still didn't know what it was about the little blond that struck a chord in all of them and he also didn't know if he would be able to forgive Genesis if something had happened to him, no matter how much he cared for the red head. With that thought in mind, as disturbing as it was to him, Sephiroth finally allowed himself to drift back to sleep as well once he was sure that Genesis was indeed out cold.

When he woke again he noticed that Genesis was still asleep and based on the time Cloud would be having his first hand to hand class in about an hour. Angeal still wasn't back up to full steam, Genesis was out of the question for at least today and Zack had his own class of cadets to deal with that day, so that left him. He could only imagine the squeaks and squeals he was in store for from the blond and wondered for a moment if it would upset Cloud if he brought a pair of ear plugs to the class. He pushed the thought aside as he climbed out of bed and headed to the closet to finally get ready for the day.

True he had a few reports to do but honestly after the few days he had, he couldn't really bring himself to care about them at the moment and if Shinra tried to have a hissy fit he'd just go into the office and play crazy General, as Zack so lovingly called it, and the man would shut up, worked every time much to Sephiroth's delight. The fact that he was about to have the little blond all to himself for the next two hours was a far more entertaining thought. Sephiroth wondered into his closet and stood there for a long moment before finally deciding to forgo his usual attire and grabbed a loose pair of draw-string pants and a slightly snug tee-shirt, clothes that would easily move with him. He stepped out of the closet to see Genesis laying there with a faint smile on his lips. Sephiroth's own twitched for a moment before he held up a finger in warning. "One crack about coming out of the closet and I'll kill you." He threatened, though his voice held no real edge to it.

"Whatever you say." Genesis said before snuggling down into the blankets again. "Go easy on him." He murmured out before allowing his eyes to slip shut once more. And even though he couldn't see it he knew that Sephiroth had nodded his head.

Elsewhere in the building Cloud was sitting in the Shin-Ra library with a few other cadets from his class and needless to say knowing that he had his first hand to hand class coming up and yet not knowing who it was with was a little nerve racking for the blond.

"Cloud! Pay attention man!" One of the others snapped out. His name was Simon Caswell, a fellow blond, but the way Cloud was a smart ass, Simon was just plain smart. In fact after only the first week of classes, Simon had already been moved to the Advanced Battle Strategy class. A class that was only for 3rd Class SOLDIERs and there were even talks of moving him to Advanced Battle Strategy II. "And I thought you were a damn space cadet in class, for Shiva's sake." He said with a roll of his eyes. Cloud merely looked down at the table they were crowded around. Though Cloud supposed they weren't really crowded as there were only three of them.

Aside from Simon and himself there was Leon, not that Leon was his real name, it had taken some digging for Simon and Cloud to figure out that his real name was Squall Leonhart, much to Leon's dismay and Cloud and Simon's amusement.. Like Simon, Leon was smart and like Cloud he was a smart ass and there of course was also the fact that he was a bit into himself at times and other times he clamed up and kept to himself, so he was little harder to deal with. Cloud honestly wasn't sure how the three of them got to talking, it just sort of happened. He'd been sitting in the library one day the week before and the two strolled over and sat with him.

_Cloud was silently cursing to himself while trying to focus on the book in front of him, but his mind kept drifting back to Sephiroth and Genesis much to both his delight and annoyance. He was so into his own head at the moment that he hadn't noticed the blond and brunet approaching the table he was sitting at. In fact he hadn't noticed either of them until the both sat down and he realized they were both looking at him with matching curious expressions. Suddenly the brunet took on a knowing look and glanced to the blond._

"_Yep, queen." He said simply as though he'd just told someone it was hot outside. Cloud's mouth fell open but before he could say anything to them the other blond was speaking up while pinching the bridge of his nose in obvious annoyance._

"_Honestly Leon, must you be so crude?" He asked with a huff in his voice. At the question Leon merely rolled his eyes and shook his head a bit._

"_Don't ask me questions then if you don't want the answers Simon." Leon shot back at the blond, who at this point was looking rather mortified. Also by this point Cloud's face was as red as a tomato._

"_Could you two assholes stop talking like I'm not here." He finally piped up, though his voice came out little more then a hiss, his brilliant blue eyes flashing in annoyance. At his little outburst Leon looked at him again and tilted his head once more._

"_Yep, even has a hissy like a queen." He said with a small smirk. For some ungodly known reason Cloud couldn't help but laugh a little at the comment, which in turn earned a small laugh from Simon and soon the three teens where all laughing._

And now that he thought about it Cloud supposed that was really how it all started. It had turned out that Simon had been in the class that Zack had dropped Cloud off in after his run in with Marcus and the two had been debating back and forth over whether or not Cloud was actually gay over lunch earlier that day.

"You're thinking about the next class aren't you?" Leon finally asked while leaning back in his chair a bit and raising a brow at Cloud. The smaller blond shook his head for a moment before realizing the other two weren't buying it and then finally nodded. Simon sighed a little at this and pinched the bridge of his nose slightly before shaking his own head.

"You'll be fine Cloud; I'm sure whichever one of them shows up for your lesson will be perfectly professional." Simon said sounding a bit exasperated. When the topic of hand to hand had come up when they had arrived in the library a bit early Cloud had explained his "special" situation to them. At his words though Cloud fixed Simon with a look that clearly said 'yeah right' which caused Leon to snicker a bit before attempting to plaster an innocent look on his face when Simon glared at him. "Honestly, you two are like five year olds." Simon muttered out with a shake of his head, his shoulder length blond hair swaying back and forth as he did so.

Cloud and Leon exchanged glances before the two of them erupted into laughter which quickly earned them a glare from the librarian before they managed to get themselves back under control. "You weren't there Simon." Cloud finally said, referring to the fiasco with Genesis the day before. "As appealing as he is, I just really hope it's not Genesis, at least not today, I'd probably run out of the room before he even had a chance to explain anything to me." Cloud said as a small frown tugged at his lips. Simon and Leon exchanged looks for a moment before they both nodded in understanding. They had managed to drag the story from the smaller cadet when they had first found him in the library looking rather put out. Looking at the time Simon quickly stood up and pulled his bag onto his shoulder before moving around the table and patting Cloud on the shoulder.

"You'll be fine Cloud." He started. "Now, as much as I hate to run, Executive Deusericus wants to see me before Hand to Hand starts." Simon said giving Cloud a sympathetic look. At this Cloud and Leon both looked at him with raised brows. "Something about my Battle Strategy report I submitted before they decided to change my class." He said with yet another roll of his eyes. The other two cadets just nodded their heads slowly before Simon excused himself and hurried from the library.

"Come on Cloud, I'll walk with you." Leon said catching the annoyed look that the Librarian was giving the two of them since it was obvious that they weren't studying like they were suppose to be. Cloud nodded quickly and the two grabbed their bags before heading out themselves. As strange as it was the two walked down the hall for a long moment with neither of them saying anything. Cloud was so lost in his own thoughts and worrying about whether or not he would have to see Genesis so soon after everything had happened he didn't notice the slightly worried look that Leon was giving him. "Cloud, seriously, calm down." He finally said before throwing and arm around Cloud's shoulders. This startled Cloud out of his little spiral of worry and he gave Leon a slow smile.

"Thanks Leon, I…" Cloud's words were cut off by a figure suddenly looming up in front of the two of them causing them both to go rather wide eyed as they realized that it was Sephiroth. Said man was currently scowling down at the two of them, though more so at Leon then Cloud as the brunets arm was still around Cloud's shoulders.

"Don't you have somewhere you need to be Cadet?" Sephiroth asked coolly. Leon found himself rather tongue-tied with the legendary General standing before him and flashed Cloud a slightly panicked look.

"We were on…" Again Cloud was cut off by Sephiroth, though this time with a look. "I didn't ask you Cloud, I was speaking to Cadet Leonhart here." Sephiroth ground out shifting his jade eyes from Leon to Cloud for a moment and then back to Leon again. At the slip of the tongue Sephiroth had made Cloud realized what it was that had the man so bent out of shape and slipped out from under Leon's arm. Almost immediately the silver haired man looked a little less deadly, which was a bit of a relief for Cloud, he didn't think he could handle another pissed off SOLDIER so soon after yesterday.

"I was just making sure Cadet Strife got to class safely Sir." Leon finally said managing to somehow find his voice despite the withering look that Sephiroth had fixed him with. The answer made Sephiroth raise a brow at him for a moment before he scowled for a second more.

"I'll take it from here Cadet." Sephiroth said quickly. Leon didn't need to be told twice and flashed Cloud a quick smirk before turning and heading down the hall to his own Hand to Hand class. The small blond merely shook his head for a moment while watching his friend walk away before looking back to Sephiroth who seemed to be studying him. Cloud then noticed his gaze settling on his arm and he slowly held it up.

"I'm fine Sir." Cloud said while slowly moving his arm around to prove that he was indeed fine. Sephiroth merely nodded before turning and leading Cloud down another hallway to the SOLDIER training gyms. Cloud was a bit surprised with the ease he was able to talk to Sephiroth, though he supposed seeing someone in a partially crazed state tended to lessen the fear factor they held when they were completely sane.

As they entered Cloud was gob smacked by how huge the room actually was, despite it's small appearance from the outside. Sure after a few moments of thought he realized it had to be that big for SOLDIERs to practice in it, but they honestly had to be three times bigger then the cadet gyms. He looked around at all the various weapons lining the walls and knew he had to look like a little kid in a candy store, or as his mother called him, a queen with a new credit card. A big mistake on her part, as she and his father quickly learned when the bill came. Sephiroth noticed the look on Cloud's face and couldn't help but smirk a bit. He was guilty of the same look the first time he'd come into the training rooms and seen all the weapons. He raised a brow though when he noticed that Cloud's gaze had come to rest on one of the Buster Swords. Angeal of course was the owner of the original, but since he'd joined SOLDIER several versions had been made since then. The one on the wall was slightly narrower and a little lighter then Angeal's but it was still a massive weapon.

"You seem rather taken with the Buster Sword." Sephiroth finally remarked causing Cloud to finally break his staring match with the sword. The blond nodded his head and surprised Sephiroth by grinning a bit.

"It's an amazing sword, not on the same level as Masamune or Rapier, but equally as amazing in its own right." Cloud said with awe clearly in his voice. At the mention of his own weapon Sephiroth found himself thinking of the blade fondly.

"I suppose you're right." Sephiroth said. He'd honestly never thought of the Buster Sword that way before though he supposed that the young blond was in fact right. "All right lets get started." The older man finally said giving Cloud another moment to drool over the sword on the wall.

And so the two sat down on the matted floor and Sephiroth started going over the basics that Cloud would need to know while said blond tried his best to focus on what it was that Sephiroth was actually saying instead of drooling over the man in front of him. Up to that point they were both secretly pleased with the lack of squeaks and squeals from Cloud until finally Sephiroth stood up and pulled his hair back into a loose pony tail at the base of his neck and he informed Cloud that they were going to try and put the basics into practice. A small squeak of alarm escaped from Cloud and he looked at Sephiroth with almost comically wide eyes.

"This class is called Hand to Hand for a reason Cadet." Sephiroth said simply. Cloud slowly nodded, knowing that but still not exactly jumping for joy over the fact. With that the two got started and with Cloud on the defensive and it wasn't until about the sixth time he landed on his back with Sephiroth standing over him looking down that he sighed loudly.

"I get the feeling this isn't how this is suppose to be going." He muttered out sounding rather dejected over being on the floor once again.

"Not exactly." Sephiroth responded with a small frown. He honestly couldn't understand why the blond wasn't picking up on the simple moves that he'd been shown. He continued to muse over the fact while he helped Cloud up off the floor and watched Zack try to sneak into the room out of the corner of his eye. He took a few quick steps away from Cloud just as Zack lunged at the blond.

"MORTAL KOMBAT!" The raven haired SOLDIER screamed out as he dived at the blond. Cloud went wide eyed for a moment before dropping into a roll and getting out of Zack's way before his friend could tackle him. Zack laughed and jumped up before taking a swing at the blond which Cloud quickly jumped back from. Sephiroth moved to sit on one of the benches and watched, slightly amazed at how quickly Cloud was managing to duck and dodge a few of Zack's moves until Zack finally managed to sweep Cloud's legs out from under him. It finally dawned on Sephiroth that it had been the same with Zack when he'd started Hand to Hand classes. Cloud's defense was natural, all instinct. If he tried to think about it to much he would set himself up for failure.

"Enough Zack." Sephiroth finally said while standing up and moving over to where Zack currently had Cloud pinned to the mat and was tickling the younger teen without mercy.

"Seems like you're having a pretty productive class Seph." Zack said beaming up at him. "Spiky seems like he's doing pretty good." He added before finally letting the blond sit up.

"As much as I would like to take credit for that, it was all him. He's like you, natural defense instincts." Sephiroth replied causing Cloud to look up at him with a confused look and Zack to nod in understanding. "Meaning if you think about it, it won't work out well for you." He explained to the blond. At this Cloud nodded finally getting what he meant. "Shouldn't you be teaching something?" He finally asked fixing Zack with a look.

"3rd Classes today, not cadets like I thought, so the class was only an hour." Zack said scratching the back of his head and looking a bit sheepish. "I just wanted to swing by and see how Spiky was doing before I went to check on Angeal." Zack explained. At this Cloud frowned a bit.

"He's still not feeling good?" The blond asked which earned him a pat on the head from Zack and a flash of a smile.

"Don't worry about it Spiky, he'll be good as new tomorrow." Zack said flashing him another grin before turning towards the doors to make his way out. "I'll leave ya to it." He said before tossing the two a wave over his shoulder before heading out of the room. Once Zack was gone Sephiroth noticed that Cloud was fidgeting with his hands and though he hadn't said anything he had a good idea of what was on the blond's mind.

"Genesis will be fine; he was more or less back to normal this morning." He said simply and as soon as he did a sigh that could only be described as relieved escaped from Cloud. The teen then fixed him with a look that was clearly asking him how he was and Sephiroth couldn't stop the small smirk that crossed his lips. "As you can no doubt see, I am fine." Cloud nodded at this and Sephiroth merely smirked again. "Now let's begin again.

That was all the warning Cloud got before Sephiroth lunged at him. He managed to dodge a move or two but quickly ended up on his back again staring up at the ceiling again once more. This happened a few more times until Sephiroth was sure that Cloud was having a bit of an easier time tapping into his instincts, though it was obvious it would take a number of classes before he'd be able to do every time. There was no way that he was expecting Cloud to be able to dodge all of his moves, the fact that the blond managed to get out of the way of one or two of them was amazing to the silver haired man, or at least it was until he reminded himself that he was only allowing himself to move at a quarter of his usual speed, not that he planned on telling Cloud that. After a time they decided to switch roles and Cloud found himself on the offense while still getting instructions on defense as Sephiroth managed to avoid all of his attacks.

Finally in a fit of frustration and possibly insanity Cloud attempted a tackle and Sephiroth grabbed hold of him going into a roll which ended up with Cloud pinned underneath the taller man. Sephiroth looked down at his captive, Cloud was panting a bit heavily and his usually fluffy looking spikes were drooping with sweat. On most people Sephiroth found the scent of sweat to be rather repugnant, but as it seemed as with all other things it smelled a bit enticing coming from the blond. Cloud looked up at Sephiroth slowly; his eyes bright with the thrill of the fight, and Sephiroth without thinking leaned down and quickly captured the blond's lips with his own. Said blond's eye went wide for a moment before drifting shut as the kiss continued. Bringing one of his hands up Sephiroth raked it though Cloud's sweat slicked hair causing the blond to gasp in surprise giving Sephiroth the opening he'd needed to thrust his tongue into Cloud's mouth finally getting a true taste of the blond.

Cloud's head was spinning at this point, his brain having trouble processing the fact that he was pinned to the floor and being kissed by none other then Sephiroth. Slowly the demanding kiss ended and Sephiroth pulled back slowly smirking a bit at the slightly dazed expression that he'd left on Cloud's face before he helped the cadet back to his feet.

"I think this is a good place to stop for the day." Sephiroth said petting Cloud's hair back before grabbing the dazed blond's bag and handing it to him. Cloud started to walk away before remember to ask if he was to report to the same training room the next day, but as he turned to ask his question he squeaked out as he was quickly lifted from the floor and pressed up against the wall as a pair of demanding lips covered his own again. It was as Sephiroth had feared; the little blond's taste was as addicting as the rest of him he mused to himself before breaking the kiss once again. He smirked once more as Cloud let out a small whimper at the loss of contact as he set the teen back on the floor again.

"Question Cadet?" He asked with a slightly amused hint in his voice. For a moment Cloud shook his head before finally nodding his head a moment later.

"Sh-Should, I uh…" He paused seeming to stumble of his words, since Sephiroth had just turned his brain into a puddle of goo he was sure was leaking out of his ear. "Should I uh… wait what… here?" He asked seeming confused by his own words. "Here, should I come here? Um, tomorrow I mean." He finally managed to get out. If Sephiroth weren't trying to help the blond get his bearings he probably would have kissed him again, but instead he simply nodded before gently urging the blond towards the exit.

With what little dignity he had left after his failed attempt at talking Cloud took the hint and left the room before making his way back towards his rooms for a shower and change of uniform before lunch.

As he unlocked the door and headed into his room he found none other then Leon and Simon lounging in his living area, Simon reading some book, no doubt about strategy while Leon was sprawled across his couch with the stereo playing, listening to some ungodly rock music. Had it been Zack, Angeal or hell even Genesis, he wouldn't have really been surprised because of the, no doubt, hidden stash of keys that Zack had. Instead there sat his two new friends and they both looked freshly showered.

"HOW THE HELL DID YOU BASTARDS GET IN HERE?" He bellowed out in annoyance, having hoped to be able to come back to his room for a few minutes alone to collect his thoughts after the mind-blowing class he'd just hand.

"I picked the lock." Leon said simply lifting his head up from the arm of the couch to regard Cloud for a moment before letting it fall back again with a faint thud. Cloud's face turned red again but as he was about to start a tirade about breaking and entering Simon raised a brow at him.

"You're looking a bit flushed Cloud; did Hand to Hand class go well?" He asked sounding very curious and it didn't help that his eyes screamed mischief. At the question Cloud's face went red again though for an entirely different reason this time. Leon took note of it as well and fixed Cloud with a raised brow of his own.

"I'm going for a shower!" Cloud exclaimed quickly before dropping his bag and throwing his hands up in the air; and then disappearing into the bathroom. As soon as Cloud was out of earshot Leon and Simon exchanged amused looks.

"I'm going to guess that Hand to Hand went very well." Leon said with a laugh while Simon laughed silently to himself. Suddenly there was what could only be described as a scream coming from the bathroom.

"OH YOU ASSHOLES! YOU USED MY LAST CLEAN TOWELS!" Cloud yelled from inside the bathroom which was then followed by a shriek. "AND ALL THE HOT WATER!"

The only response he got from the other two were fits of laughter.

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And thus ends chapter 6 WHOOOOO! And that for the note I think was the next to longest chapter yet.


	7. In Which Zack Is A Closet Case?

For those that were wondering why Simon and Leon would use Cloud's towels and hot water, this was based on a prank from a few friends of mine. They crashed here for a weekend and I was always yelling at them for using all the hot water and always managing to steal the last towel. It annoyed me but they thought it was hilarious.

Disclaimers: See chapter 1

Spelling and Grammar… I might go back and fix it someday… I am lazy.

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**Chapter 7 – In Which Zack Is A Closet Case?**

"STRIFE!"

Cloud twitched a bit as his dream previously wonderful dream involving Sephiroth and his godlike tongue suddenly got extremely loud and rather annoying. He shifted a bit and burrowed back down ready to drift off again until the screaming got louder and seemed to suddenly be right next to his ear at this point.

"CADET STRIFE!" At this Cloud jerked up quickly, damn near falling out of his seat, and looked around to find the whole class staring at him and his teacher glaring at him from where he now stood next to Cloud's desk. "Nice to have you back Cadet, am I boring you?" The teacher asked with huff while crossing his arms and fixing the blond with a glare that would surely cause someone with a weaker heart to keel over on the spot.

"Uh… no Sir. Sorry Sir." Cloud mumbled out before shooting a quick glare over to Leon and Simon, who were failing at their sad attempts at hiding the small smirks on their faces, as soon as the teacher looked away from him for a moment.

"Good then perhaps you'll be able to stay awake for the next part of the lesson." The teacher ground out before moving back up to the front of the classroom and continuing on, he even back tracked a bit but Cloud honestly had no idea what was even going on anymore.

Cloud couldn't remember the last time he'd been so tired and he totally blamed the other two for it. After the rest of the classes from the day before the two had followed Cloud back to his room like ducklings following their Mama, all the while demanding a full recount of his Hand to Hand class which after much prodding, it taking Leon offering to get him the latest news articles about his favorite SOLDIERS, before he finally gave up the information the other two were after. There was much blushing and glaring on Cloud's part, as well as laughing and good natured ribbing from the other two over it and by the time he was done telling his tale, Cloud was pretty sure that his face was on fire. And it didn't help that Leon had declared that you could probably cook an egg on Cloud's reddened cheeks. Needless to say the comment had quickly earned him a fairly epic scowl from the small blond.

_Leon flopped down onto the couch next to Cloud with a small grunt while Simon made himself comfortable in one of the other chairs in the room, being the one of them that rather enjoyed having his personal space. As soon as they were all settled a strange quiet descended on them and Simon and Leon quickly pinned Cloud with matching stares causing the smaller blond to raise his eyebrows in question. The twin blond lines blending in perfectly with his hair at that point, so it was truly a rather ridiculous look for the blond._

"_Wh-What?" He asked, even though he didn't really need to. The two had been bugging him all through their last two classes for information about his class with Sephiroth, which the blond refused to give up, though he was in all honesty still trying to grasp what had happened himself, so he really wasn't sure what to say to them._

"_Details." Was all Simon said and Leon didn't say anything he merely raised his own brows as if to say that Simon had just said it all, which was a normal response from the brunet. _

"_Oh um… It was a really good session. I found out that I have uh, what did he call it again?" He mumbled while trailing off for a moment. "Natural defense instincts." Cloud said tripping over his own words as his face heated up as he very clearly remembered what had happened during the lesson, and he didn't think he'd be forgetting anytime soon. His thoughts were cut off though as he was suddenly whapped in the face with a pillow. "What the hell?" He squawked out glaring at Leon._

"_Stop beating around the bush!" Leon finally said before putting the pillow behind his back and leaning against it. "Damn diva." He added with a huff._

"_Oh for Shiva's sake! He kissed me all right!" Cloud finally snapped out at the two of them. As soon as the words had left his mouth though he went a bit wide eyed and clapped a hand over his mouth, looking rather like a child that had just let a swear word fly in front of his parents for the first time. At the news Leon and Simon exchanged looks for a moment before smirking slightly and breaking out into laughter._

"_Way to go Cloud!" Leon said with a laugh before clapping the small blond on the shoulder._

"_I do hope that isn't part of your grade." Simon said with a smirk which caused Cloud to squeak in annoyance and bit of shock at the fact that Simon of all people had even said that, his mouth opening and closing a few times before he finally settled on glaring at the both of them for being the bitches they were and looking indignant which caused the other two to laugh at him again._

And with that being said the three had ended up spending much of the evening celebrating Cloud's progress, not that any of them were really sure if progress was a good or bad thing, and stayed up well past curfew. Simon and Leon sneaking back to their shared room sometime after 2am leaving Cloud to finally shuffle off to bed. So, now poor Cloud, having missed breakfast, was struggling just to stay awake. He honestly had the strong urge to strangle his friends, both Simon and Leon for keeping him up as well as Zack for his lovely version of a wake up call, if that was what one wanted to call it even.

"_WAKEY WAKEY SPIKY!" Zack screamed out before launching himself on top of a, until that point, sound asleep Cloud. The screaming and the crashing weight were enough to scare the hell out of Cloud causing him to squeak louder then was probably humanly possible, which wasn't really out of the norm for him. All it earned him though was a laugh from Zack. "Come on lil' Spiky time to get up." Zack said with a grin while ruffling the blond's already mussed bed head. "Time for all good little cadets to be up and dressed."_

_Cloud glared up at him and despite Zack's weight he managed to turn himself over and burry his face into his pillow, the move alone telling Zack exactly what he thought of his plans for waking the blond. Much to Cloud's dismay though the move did nothing to sway Zack, instead the raven haired SOLDIER got up and grabbed hold of Cloud's ankle before dragging the blond out of the bed, it was as soon as his ass hit the floor that his devil alarm sounded causing Cloud to groan and hold his head._

"_See Spiky not everyone can stay up past 2am and function." Zack said with a wiggle of his eyebrows and waving yet another key in the air which just ended with him getting whapped in the face with a pillow followed by a hissed. "Shut up Zack."_

Fighting with Zack while trying to get ready had lead to the missed breakfast, though Cloud suspected that Zack did it on purpose, probably trying to teach him some annoying lesson about going to bed at a decent time at least while he was cadet. Either way Cloud wasn't amused. He needed his beauty sleep just like anyone else and he knew that, wasn't his fault that Simon and Leon were chatty Cathy's who could live on energy drinks and didn't have to deal with an energetic SOLDIER first thing in the morning. Though despite trying to explain that to Zack the raven haired SOLDIER merely laughed and ruffled Cloud's hair yet again before telling him he'd see him when it was time for his hand to hand class.

So there he sat tired as all hell and in no way ready to deal with a hyperactive Zack next class period. He'd honestly wanted to ram his head into a wall and knock himself out just to get out of the class. Though as appealing as the thought was he imagined that Zack would show up in the infirmary and drag him to class kicking and screaming. The poor exhausted blond had no idea that he was currently the topic of conversation over in the office building next door.

"You got to make out with him and I'm stuck going to a meeting why exactly?" Genesis growled out looking up from the stack of paperwork that Sephiroth had tossed onto his desk in front of him. If eyes could shoot lasers Genesis desk would have been nothing but a pile of ash at that point.

"Because I wasn't the one who tried to claim him while doped up on Mako, that's why." Sephiroth drawled out in a lazy manner while leaning up against the side of the desk pleased that his office wasn't being used as ground zero for a change. Honestly at times Sephiroth felt something akin to pity for the office janitors that had to clean up after the lot of them.

"Prick." Genesis hissed out at the oh so friendly reminded of the day he was pretty sure he'd scared the blond away from him for life. A day that he honestly wished he'd never been told about. Sephiroth merely rolled his eyes at the red head and crossed his arms.

"Do you honestly think Cloud holds it against you?" He asked, finally dropping the lazy expression on his face and looking at his lover with a questioning expression. Genesis sighed at this and ran a hand through his hair.

"I don't know, I really don't. I mean what do we really know about him and how he thinks? I mean who's to say that he won't haul ass the next time he sees me?" Genesis muttered out leaning back in his chair while letting his head fall back. Sephiroth merely made a small 'hmm' sound of agreement.

"He was worried about you." Sephiroth commented suddenly. At this Genesis lifted his head and raised a brow at the silver haired man in front of him. "He was wondering how you were." He added to clarify. While the blond hadn't openly questioned Sephiroth the concern had been there all the same, it had been written all over Cloud's face the minute Zack had mentioned that Angeal still wasn't even back up to one-hundred percent yet. Genesis looked thoughtful for a moment at that bit of information before the look in his eyes turned a bit lecherous.

"What did he taste like?" Genesis wondered aloud. To say that he was only a little jealous that Sephiroth had beaten him to kissing the blond would be an understatement in the extreme. Though he was sure that Sephiroth's intentions no matter how perverse were still more innocent then his own, especially after the day he'd had the blond moaning and whimpering on Sephiroth's desk. The thoughts and ideas that the little blond caused to come to his mind were truly something to behold. At least he thought so anyway. Though, he often found himself wondering if it were even possible to bend the human body that way without breaking something.

"Sweet. Sweet like a candy but with hint of a tangy aftertaste." Sephiroth supplied with a wiggle of his eyebrows. At the bit of information Genesis sighed before slowly standing and gathering the papers he needed for the damned meeting that he was being forced to attend. "You'll see him soon enough Genesis, try not to dwell on it. It will be fine I'm sure." The silver haired man said finally as he watched Genesis head out of the office before turning his attention to some other paperwork sitting on the man's desk that the red head had obviously ignored on purpose. Had he been paying a bit more attention he would have noticed Genesis going the completely opposite direction then he needed to be going for the meeting.

In the training room Zack struck a few stances and stretched himself while waiting for Cloud to get there. He could only imagine how much fun it would be to see the blond running around and trying to keep himself awake at the same time. He wanted his friend to do well, but it seemed that Cloud needed to learn that until he had Mako pumping through his veins, he needed just as much sleep as everyone else. He was so caught up in his amused thoughts that he hadn't noticed the figure coming up behind him and barely had managed to yelp before things went dark.

With a sigh Cloud stood up slowly from his seat and shooting Leon and Simon a quick glare he hurried off to his Hand to Hand class, ignoring the glare that followed him from the teacher as he scrambled out of the room. As he reached the training room he pushed the doors open, wide for a moment and they made a slight slamming sound behind him causing him to jump a little at the noise it created in the quiet room. He walked further into the room fully expecting Zack to jump out at him at any moment as he entered and came face to face with Genesis standing in the middle of the room he couldn't help but stare at the red head with slightly wide eyes. He found himself both happy and alarmed to see the man so soon and couldn't quite seem to hide either of these things from his face. "S-sir." He managed to stutter out slowly. Genesis said nothing though he merely fixed the blond with a curious expression. "H-how are… how are you f-feeling?" Cloud asked cursing how scared he sounded. He didn't want to be scared around this man as what had happened obviously wasn't his fault, Sephiroth and Zack had both told him as much.

"I'll live." Genesis responded simply with a small smirk gracing his lips for a moment before it dropped and a more serious expression took its place. He reached out a hand slowly and almost cursed when he noticed Cloud flinch for just a moment before his hand cupped the blond's cheek. "I'm more concerned about you. Please tell me I didn't ruin things, that I didn't hurt you." Genesis murmured softly obviously very troubled by what had happened. At the soft words and the gentle touch Cloud could feel himself relaxing finally in the man's presence.

He honestly couldn't find it in himself to be scared of the man now, not when he seemed so truly troubled by what had happened. In fact he had honestly been more worried about how Genesis was doing rather then upset by what had happened that day. Cloud knew that talking to his mother about what had happened would help him work through it in his own mind and it really had. The woman always seemed to know just what to say to cheer up her baby boy.

"I'll live." The little blond finally shot back after a long quiet moment with a small smirk of his own earning him a grin from the Commander. It was as the comfortable silence then settled over them that he suddenly found himself wondering just where the hell Zack was finally taking note of the missing ball of energy. "Sir, I thought Zack was supposed to be teaching my class today." Cloud said with a note of curiosity in his voice. At the blond's statement though, Genesis merely waved his hand as though it were nothing out of the ordinary for the other SOLDIER to be missing.

"He had a meeting come up that he just couldn't get out of." Genesis said with a tone that Cloud couldn't quiet place before turning and taking an offensive stance. Despite the unusual tone, Cloud had no reason to doubt Genesis so he merely set his bag down and took his own defensive stance, though he didn't have to wait long and didn't even get to ask what they would be covering in the lesson before Genesis was launching himself at him.

Cloud let out a startled squeak as he found himself on the ground flat on his back before he could even blink. Genesis merely smirked a little at the blond who was blinking up at him owlishly obviously trying to figure out what the hell had just happened and how he'd ended up on the floor so quickly. Cloud's eyes widened just a bit more as Genesis shifted so that he was now straddling the small blond. The red head clicked his tongue playfully for a moment and he could feel the blond's heart rate damn near triple as he lay underneath him. Though why Genesis couldn't quite tell. "Do I scare you now Cloud?" Genesis asked leaning down a bit so his face was now a mere inch away from the blond's. Slowly Cloud shook his head at the question.

"No sir, only when you don't have control sir." Cloud said honestly. If anything Cloud found himself intimidated of the sheer power that SOLDIERs held but he couldn't bring himself to be scared of them the more time he spent around the group of friends. Though he couldn't say the feelings extended to all SOLDIERs there were honestly a number of them that scared the piss out of him based on sheer size alone.

"Oh I assure you I am in complete control now." Genesis said with a sexy little smirk making its way onto his face, pleased with the answer that Cloud had given him and finally feeling the nervous knot in his stomach over the situation start to ease. The last thing he wanted to do was to scare the blond. Leaning down a bit more he nudged Cloud's nose with his own, causing the blond to tilt his head up a bit and a small gasp to escape from him. Genesis used the moment to pull Cloud into a deep searing kiss and for the second day in a row Cloud found his eyes slipping closed as he gave into the kiss, his senses going into overdrive yet again.

Pulling out of the kiss Genesis nibbled at Cloud's bottom lip for a moment before pulling back a bit further. Sephiroth had been right the blond did taste like candy and how sweet it was. Standing up quickly he lifted Cloud into his arms, the blond wrapping his legs around the red head's waist as he found himself quickly pressed against the wall and locked in yet another heated kiss with Genesis. All while silently thanking whatever God or Goddess happened to be watching over them for the fact that Genesis was actually indeed all right, or at least as all right as the perverted red head could get.

"Tell me you want this as much as we do." Genesis panted out lightly. Cloud caught the slip of tongue that Genesis had made but he didn't disagree with it, so he made no effort to correct the other man and merely nodded, not trusting himself to do anything other then whimper and moan at that point. Genesis grinned at the nod and quickly went back to making thought damn near impossible for the blond.

Back in the office building unaware of the little snog-fest going on in the other building Sephiroth had long since headed back to his own office and was more then surprised when Lazard came walking into the office looking rather annoyed, it was honestly unusual for the blond to be showing any sort of emotion on his face most of the time, though Sephiroth assumed it was a family trait. Seeming to not take notice to the irate look Sephiroth said nothing to the slightly older man; he merely raised a brow and waited for the other to say something first as he undoubtedly would.

"Genesis thought it would be appropriate to skip out on the meeting this morning." He said simply crossing his arms in front of himself. At the news Sephiroth sighed for a moment before standing up from behind his desk and heading towards the door. "You know where he is?" Lazard asked curiously though his face betrayed nothing.

"I have a fairly good idea." Sephiroth grumbled out, more then certain that he was right about where the red head had headed to after he had last seen him, especially considering the conversation that the two of them had been having before he left. Lazard didn't say anything else as he followed the taller man to the next building and found himself extremely curious as they approached one of the training rooms, much of that curiosity now shining in his eyes.

As the two entered the room their ears where met with the sounds of soft whimpers and low moans, and they rounded the corner to find Genesis holding Cloud and pressing him against the wall as he was obviously having a field day marking the small blond's neck. "Genesis!" Lazard hissed out. At the sound of his name and the voice it was that had said it, Genesis dropped the poor blond to the floor and spun around to find both Lazard and Sephiroth staring at him with matching annoyed expressions. Lazard was immediately at Cloud's side helping what he thought was helpless cadet up off the floor at the moment, not recognizing the teen as the one the lot of them had been staring at the first night the new cadets had arrived. "I can't believe you skipped a meeting to take advantage of a cadet!" Lazard snapped out at the red head. Honestly Lazard let the three First Classes get away with a lot, but this was crossing a line.

"Willingly." Cloud squeaked up not wanting Genesis to get in trouble because the Director got the wrong idea about what was going on. As he spoke though Lazard looked at him with a curious expression, though it only showed in his gaze, so Cloud felt the need to be more clear about things. "Willingly, sir. The Commander wasn't taking advantage of me." The blond said, keeping in mind what Sephiroth had told him about making sure to look someone in the eye when speaking with them. Inside though he was honestly terrified about Director Lazard's reaction to what was going one.

As Cloud's words slowly sunk in Lazard glanced back for a moment to Sephiroth to find the silverette also staring at Cloud intently, actually it was more like he wanted to eat the blond up, but there was no mistaking the look either way. "Be that as it may, that doesn't excuse him from missing the meeting." Lazard said calmly while fixing the red head with a look that made Genesis of all people actually look a bit sheepish! It was right then that Cloud vowed to make every effort to never be on the receiving end of that particular gaze.

"Genesis where the hell is Zack?" Sephiroth asked finally taking notice to the lack of the Second Class who was in fact suppose to be teaching Cloud right then. "I can't imagine that he willing left Cloud alone with you." He added, which caused Lazard to look at him for a moment but Sephiroth offered not explanation on his comment. As though the question and comment that followed it were magic spells, one of the weapon closet doors in the training room burst open only to have a tied up Zack come spilling out onto the floor. The ebony haired SOLDIER lay there for a moment glaring at Genesis who merely smirked at him. The younger SOLDIER was honestly anything but amused about what Genesis had done to him.

"Seriously dude? Sereiously?" He yelled out which came out more like a shriek and merely earned him a round of quiet laughter from the rest of the men in the room.

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Note: All righty next chapter we're getting into a little bit of drama again, so it will be a bit more of a longer chapter, but fear not I'll try to lighten it back up in the chapter after that… you know me, to much continuous drama and I start twitching.


	8. In Which Sephiroth Wants Blood

Not much to say other then I managed to bang this chapter out in two days… damn… lol… Thanks for the reviews guys, means a lot to me.

Disclaimers: See Chapter 1

Spelling and Grammar… I'll fix it someday… maybe… when Sephiroth shows up on my doorstep and demands it.

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Chapter 8 – In Which Sephiroth Wants Blood

"Very good Cloud." Angeal said with a nod of his head as Cloud managed to copy the swing that he had just shown him almost perfectly. Cloud quickly beamed at the comment from the older man feeling rather pleased with himself, as his session had been full of comments like that.

It wasn't really all that surprising to him what he could learn when his instructors weren't trying to make out with him, not that he minded it! He seemed to be having a bit of an easier time picking up on the various moves that Angeal was showing to him rather then Sephiroth's hack and slash approach to teaching him and was slowly starting to get the feeling that he was going to enjoy Hand to Hand much more then he had thought he was going to, snog-fests aside because those he had loved. Though despite his enjoyment of the lesson he couldn't deny he was near giddy at the fact that it was Friday and Zack had promised to take him for pizza as Hand to Hand was his last class of the day on Fridays, which depending on how physical the lesson go was both a blessing and a curse.

"Sephiroth was right, as always. Natural abilities, so you need to do one of two things, either focus on beating your opponent or keep your mind free of all thought other then staying alive. You'll have to decide which works best for you." Angeal explained simply. "Though I've heard that depending on the situation, the thought may vary." He added.

Surprisingly Cloud had no problem grasping the concept of that. Though Angeal supposed if he were Cloud's size and someone his size was coming after him, he'd get it pretty quick as well. As the two continued on to some other moves he'd shown the blond earlier in the lesson, he couldn't help but remember the great debate about Cloud's Hand to Hand class that had taken place in Lazard's office earlier that morning.

_Lazard sat calmly behind his desk, though the occasional glare he would shoot Sephiroth and Genesis sort of gave away the reason for the meeting, leaving Angeal and Zack to wonder why they were even needed. After all, they hadn't been the ones caught making out with Cloud. The heated glares passing between the other three men would occasionally cause Zack to break into hysterics, which in turn would earn him a roll of the eyes from Angeal._

"_Is this really necessary?" Sephiroth finally bit out after the group of them at been sitting there for five minutes doing nothing aside from seeing who could glare the best but the question only earned him yet another glare from Lazard before the blond sighed, realizing that the glares were having no effect on the man._

"_About Cadet Strife, would one of you care to explain to me why he is currently living in Zack's old room?" He asked slowly. There was no signature on the order for the room switch so Lazard could only assume that it had been done without a First Classes approval._

"_I approved it." Was said quickly by all three First Classes in the room, causing Zack to laugh yet again. The three glanced at each other with small smirks before Sephiroth spoke again. "Zack presented us with it and all of us approved it." He said with a shrug as though the answer were obvious._

"_I see… and the reason the cadet is not taking Hand to Hand with the rest of his class?" Lazard ventured. He had a rough idea after seeing the size of the blond, but didn't offer his take on the situation._

"_There is a slight issue." Genesis provided and when he didn't say anything more Lazard fixed him with a blank stare before beginning to shuffle the papers on his desk with a sigh._

"_Unless there is a valid reason Cadet Strife will be attending Hand to Hand with the rest of his class starting today." The Director said flatly while pushing his glasses up slightly._

"_That guy'll pound Spiky to a pulp!" Zack wailed out at the thought of Cloud being forced to take class with Marcus Leften. At this outburst Sephiroth rolled his eyes, Genesis face-palmed and Angeal whacked him upside the back of the head._

"_Don't you know a bluff when you hear it Pup?" Angeal asked giving Zack a sideways glance. Zack merely turned about then different shades of red and ducked his head down to avoid getting another whack from his lover._

"_Thank you for the information Zack, now would someone care to elaborate?" Lazard asked dryly with a triumphant smirk gracing his lips as he glanced to each one of the other men._

"_There is an issue between Cloud," At Sephiroth's use of Cloud's first name, Lazard shot him a look for a moment causing him to clear his throat. "An issue between Cadet Strife and another cadet in his class. The other cadet made advances towards Cadet Strife which were unwelcome and the same cadet was slated to be his roommate." Sephiroth explained smoothly. "To avoid any issues in the future between the two of them we arranged to teach the Hand to Hand class to Cadet Strife ourselves until the cadet is at least capable of handling things, mostly due to his small size." He finished._

"_I see." Lazard said simply while pressing a button to make his own projection screen appear. "And this had nothing to do with anything I'm sure." He said motioning towards the screen that was now showing all to clearly what had happened the day that Genesis had showed up in Cloud's room._

_Sephiroth, Angeal, and Zack all winced at the footage while Genesis watched it with something akin to horror passing over his features. Genesis felt as if his whole world had been tilted, when he heard the pained whimper escape from Cloud when he'd been holding him. Lazard opened his mouth to comment on the situation but Genesis was suddenly on his feet and glaring at Sephiroth._

"_You lied to me! I hurt him and you lied to me about it!" Genesis bellowed out. Sephiroth looked at the red head wide eyed for a moment before schooling his features into their usually impassive expression._

"_It was a momentary pain Genesis I assure you; Cloud was fine the next day! You told me yourself that he had said he was fine." Sephiroth shot back, Lazard merely watched the exchange and on some level he couldn't help but be pleased at the effect the little cadet was having on the two._

"_But what happens the next time? What happens if one of you loses control and the other isn't around to stop you? Did you not think of this?" Lazard asked calmly. He'd seen the footage the day it had happened but he started to believe something more was going on when no complaint was filed by Cloud. It had taken him a few minutes the day before to realize that the blond Genesis had been marking when they had found him was the same from the tape._

"_Of course we thought of it." Genesis hissed out. "If you think we would willingly put him in danger then you're a fucking idiot." He added. His comment leaving the other three looking rather gob-smacked while Lazard merely looked amused._

"_Be that as it may if you're planning to pursue the cadet, as distasteful as I might find it, then you can no longer teach him." Lazard started, all four of the other men looked ready to explode but he held up his hand. "You being Sephiroth and Genesis. The two of you obviously can't seem to keep things professional when left alone with him. So until you feel he is ready Angeal and Zack will take care of the class." He said with a hint of finality in his voice. "So unless you have any objections to this, dismissed." He said motioning towards the door with his hand._

_The group headed towards the door but before they left Sephiroth turned back to Lazard and fixed him with a level gaze. "The cameras in Cloud's rooms will be turned off or I swear to the Goddess I will rip them out of the walls myself." He said with a frighteningly calm tone. Lazard was usually not one to be scared of the men in his office but the level gazes they had all fixed him with had left him feeling rather unnerved so he simply nodded his head._

_At the nod the four left and continued back down to their offices on the floor below but before they went their separate ways Zack stopped mid step and an evil little grin made it's way onto his face._

"_Hey guys… if those cameras have been running in that room 24/7, you know what that means don't you?" Zack asked slowly. Sephiroth's eye twitched as he was mentally cursing himself for forgetting the SOLDIER rooms all had cameras in them. So that left Genesis and Angeal to give him quizzical looks._

"_Well out with it." Genesis snapped out._

"_It means that they probably have tons of footage of Cloud dancing around his room." He finally finished with a shit eating grin._

"All right Cloud, that's good for today, I better let you go I'll never hear the end of it if you're late." Angeal said with a laugh at the thought of an annoyed Zack pouting because he couldn't get to the pizza place fast enough.

"It's all right sir. I brought my stuff today." Cloud said with a laugh as the same image passed through his mind. "I thought it would be easier to just head to the cadet's locker room and get ready there."

"A wise decision." Angeal said with another laugh and a nod of his head before dismissing Cloud from the training room. He watched the small blond bound off towards the door with small smile before his gaze traveled over to the Buster replica on the wall. He then glanced at the clock with a small shrug of his shoulders. He still had about two hours to kill before he met up with Genesis and Sephiroth for dinner so he plucked the replica off the wall and was quickly darting around the room with it at speeds that would mostly likely make a normal person sick.

He honestly didn't know how long he'd been at it when the training room doors slammed open and Zack came scurrying into the room, looking more then a little put out. Angeal stopped what he was doing and looked at Zack carefully.

"Cloud's not with you?" Zack asked sounding near frantic as his gaze darted around the room, obviously looking for some sign of the blond. Angeal's brows knitted together as he slowly shook his head.

"He left here," He paused looking at the clock, had it really been that long? "About a half hour ago." He said, not liking the way the hair was now standing up on the back of his neck.

"Did he say where he was headed? Anything?" Zack asked quickly sounding as if he were on the verge of a rather large panic attack.

"He said he was…" It then finally dawned on him where Cloud had actually headed and Angeal paled a bit which did nothing for Zack's nerves. Zack didn't even manage to ask another question before Angeal was all out running from the training room, Zack quickly following at his heels. The two came skidding to a stop as they reached the cadet locker room and rushed in each yelling out.

"Cloud?" "Spiky you in here?" Each yelled respectively. Angeal then came to a dead stop and Zack looked at him with a curious expression until he followed his lover's line of site and caught site of the bit of blood on the far wall. Zack opened his mouth to yell again but Angeal quickly held up a hand signaling for him to be quiet, it was then that Zack heard what Angeal obviously had.

A small whimper. Had they had normal hearing they no doubt wouldn't have heard it so the two quickly followed the sound fearing the worst. It was coming from the direction of the shower stalls and the two made their way over quietly and came to find Cloud curled up in the corner of the shower stall. The small blond had his knees up to his chest and his head buried down into his own chest. Cloud's shirt was barely covering his small form and without thinking Zack rushed past Angeal and went to gather Cloud in his arms which caused the blond to lash out and scream as the sudden movement.

"Spiky… Spiky it's all right." Zack said softly trying to calm the blond down, it was then that they both caught sight of the side of Cloud's head the usually wild spikes were matted down and hanging limp with blood.

"Z… Zack." Cloud squeaked out finally seeming to recognize his friend before quickly clinging to his strong form. The sudden movement and the force of it managed to knock Zack on his ass, but he honestly didn't care as he continued to try and get the shaking blond to calm down. Angeal knew what he had to do, but he honestly didn't want to have to be the one to tell Genesis and Sephiroth any of this. Slowly he pulled his PHS out of his pocket and sighed, Goddess help whoever it was that had done this to the little blond.

Back in the office building Sephiroth and Genesis were stuck in the middle of yet another long and boring meeting, one of the Shin-Ra executives rambling on and on about why they needed to secure one area or another, in all honestly neither of them had been paying much attention since about the first five minutes the man had been talking and that had been about an hour ago. So when Sephiroth's PHS started flashing red, indicating an emergency somewhere in one of the buildings, he all to happily waved it at Genesis who scowled at him for a moment thinking the silver haired man was going to get out of the meeting without him, until his suddenly started flashing as well. They each held up their PHS to each other to see that they were both being contacted by Angeal.

"If you gentlemen will excuse us, there seems to be an emergency on the grounds, which requires our attention." Sephiroth said evenly as he stood up and headed towards the door with Genesis right behind him. "See that I get a copy of the rest of the meetings notes." He said to the secretary that was sitting to the side typing away. The two quickly stepped across the hall into one of the empty offices and putting the PHS on speaker phone, calling Angeal back.

"Angeal." Sephiroth said simply before Genesis started running at the mouth.

"Don't you think signaling an emergency is a little extreme to get us out of a meeting if-" Genesis didn't even get to finish his sentence as Angeal started speaking quickly and in a hushed manner.

"The cadet locker room, something's happened, Cloud…" At the few words Sephiroth snapped the PHS shut and took off running, putting his mako enhanced body to full use. Genesis was right behind him and even he was having a small amount of trouble keeping up with the General's speed.

Angeal looked down at the PHS that was giving him nothing but dial tone and sighed before closing it and slipping it back into his pocket and returning to the two on the floor of the shower. Cloud was a wreck, but the only outward trauma that Angeal could see was the crack on the head and the torn shirt that the blond sported. He was about to take a closer look when the door to the locker room slammed open, it caused Cloud to jump a little but he didn't make any noise, and that worried both Angeal and Zack a bit.

Quickly coming around the corner both Sephiroth and Genesis skidded to a stop and it wasn't long before a low rumbling noise escaped Sephiroth and there was honestly no mistaking the deep growl for anything else. "What happened?" He hissed out and all Angeal could do was shrug his shoulders sadly. Until the blond was able to talk, they were all going to be in the dark about this.

With a small sigh Sephiroth willed himself to calm down before crouching down to where Zack was still holding Cloud on the floor and reach out slowly. "Cloud… Cloud can you…" He didn't get to finish though as he suddenly found himself with his arms full of the blond, much the same as Zack had. Cloud buried his face into Sephiroth's chest and refused to look at anyone. Gently he picked the whimpering blond up and carefully handed him to Genesis who in turn nuzzled Cloud's head gently while whispering words of nonsense that seemed to be having a calming effect on the blond.

Sephiroth clenched and unclenched his fist for a moment at the sight before him. "Genesis, take him to my rooms, I'll meet you there." He said, his voice low, barely even above a hiss at that point.

"S-Seph…" Cloud whimpered out. At the first time hearing his name, or at least part of it from the blond and in such a broken manner, his stern gaze melted for a moment as he leaned forward and kissed the blond on the head softly.

"Don't worry Cloud; we'll take care of everything." He murmured out as his eyes flashed a brighter shade of green for a moment before he stepped back.

"Come on lil 'Bo, let's get you to bed." Genesis said softly holding Cloud tightly to his chest before taking off out of the locker room at full speed, they honestly didn't need anyone to see Cloud in his current state and assume the worst of the situation.

As soon as the two were finally out of sight Zack stood and looked at the General. "You think it was Leften?" He asked carefully as the murderous look had returned to Sephiroth's face as soon as the locker room door had closed again.

"Of course I do." He hissed out moving over towards the blood on the far wall near where Cloud's things were scattered all over the floor. "He was getting changed, looks like 'whoever' came up behind him and threw him." Sephiroth said, hissing out 'whoever' as he knew there was no way that they could prove it was Marcus, at least not yet anyway. They didn't have cameras in the cadet locker room as they were deemed safe enough to go without them, the SOLDIER locker room on the other hand was loaded with them. "Angeal, take Zack and head up to my rooms, I'll be along shortly."

Angeal and Zack simply nodded at the instructions and quickly made their own way from the locker room. Once they were gone Sephiroth sat down on the end of the bench and simply stared at the bloody wall for a long moment. _**"Let me kill him."**_ A small voice whispered in the back of his mind. _**"You know it was him, let me kill him."**_ It urged on and Sephiroth was half tempted to agree but finally shook his head no, willing the voice to be silent once more. Standing up he pulled out his PHS, calling a janitor to come clean things up as he then went about gathering Cloud's things.

As he picked up the blond's bag a slip of folded paper fluttered to the floor, catching his eye. He picked it up and as he unfolded it he realized that some of the writing was new and some old, some of the small sentences even had lines drawn through them.

"Things to do." Sephiroth read at the top of the small sheet while he found himself sitting back down to read it. He could only assume that based on some items having a line though them meant they were things that Cloud had done or accomplished.

_1. Tell my parents I'm gay and that no matter how big Tifa's tits get, it's not happening._

Sephiroth smirked slightly at this and couldn't stop his smirk from getting a little wider as he realized there was a small note written next to the first item. 'Apparently they knew this already and have been having a laugh at my expense… assholes.'

_2. Make high enough grades to get into Shin-Ra Academy, because my skinny ass can't get in there based on size._

_3. Make it to Shin-Ra Academy even if my Mom chains herself to my ankle._

Again both items had heavy lines through them, but neither had any side comments from the blond so Sephiroth continued his way down the list.

_4. Become a SOLDIER so I can show those assholes at back home that I'm not the same kid whose ass they use to kick._

There was obviously no line through number four and Sephiroth couldn't help but clench a fist again as the meaning of the line dawned on him. He honestly didn't want to think of anyone laying a hand on the blond in anything but a gentle manner, but he supposed his suspicions about Nibelheim being a backwards little red neck town was right.

_5. Get to meet Sephiroth, Genesis and Angeal in person._

This one was scribbled out and in larger letters next to it was written. 'SEPHIROTH KISSED ME!' The silver haired man couldn't help but be amused slightly. After the fifth one the writing appeared to be a little newer and a few more after that it were even newer still.

_6. Never eat Zack's cooking again! It really should be used in the next war as a secret weapon!_

_7. Find and destroy all footage of me dancing… Zack is a terrible liar._

_8. Kill Leon and Simon for keeping me up all night... bitches._

_9. Find and destroy all copies of the key to my room that Zack has… no one should have to deal with that much energy in the morning._

Sephiroth couldn't help the small chuckle that escaped from him at the thought of the poor blond having to deal with Zack first thing in the morning; he himself even considered that cruel and unusual punishment, but he supposed Zack always invaded with the best of intentions when it came to Cloud.

_10. Find that Hojo guy and kick his ass for what he's doing to the guys… It's not right..._

_11. Learn everything and anything there is to know about Sephiroth and Genesis and then go tell those Silver Elite, Red Leather and Study Group bitches to go jump off a bridge, they're mine._

_12. Make Sephiroth, Genesis, Angeal and Zack proud of me._

As he reached and read through the last three items on the list, a deep growl rumbled in his chest at the last one. He knew what he had to do to make sure that the blond was completely fine, but he in no way wanted to do it.

On one of the top floors of the building Genesis had managed to get Cloud up to Sephiroth's rooms without much incident, aside from a few squeaks from the blond at the fast speed with which he was moving, but he was now having a hard time getting Cloud to let him go. He'd tried assuring Cloud with words that he was only going to lay him down and cover him with the blanket, but this had only made the frightened blond cling tighter to him. And that was the scene that Angeal and Zack had arrived to.

"Cloud…" Genesis said gently finally getting the young teen to look up at him. Cloud's eyes were puffy and red and the side of his face had a hint of a bruise starting to form and Genesis felt his blood boil. "I promise I'm not going anywhere, but this can't be comfortable for you." Cloud however said nothing; he just merely buried his face in Genesis's chest again.

"You might as well lay down with him Gen, I don't think he'll be letting go anytime soon." Angeal said from where he now stood just inside the doorway. Genesis simply sighed at the comment but nodded his head, shifting the blond in his arms, so that he could lay in the bed with him.

As soon as Genesis was stretched out, Cloud slowly uncurled himself but still managed to stay plastered to the man's side, which honestly left Zack blinking and trying to figure out how Cloud had managed to pull the move off. Silence then descended on the small group each lost in their own thoughts about the current situation, Genesis plotting death and carnage, Angeal cursing himself for not paying more attention to where the blond was headed, Zack cursing himself for not meeting the blond as soon as his Hand to Hand class was over and Cloud was just reliving the attack over and over again in his head. In all honesty it was no worse then some of the beatings he'd gotten back home from the guys in the neighborhood, but what shook Cloud up about it so badly was the fact that he had been silly enough to believe that he was finally safe at the Academy. Each of them were so lost in their own thoughts that they failed to noticed the smaller man that approached them, at least until he spoke.

"My, my now here is something I never thought I'd see." A snide sounding voice said. Three heads snapped in the direction of the voice and Genesis sneered, baring his teeth and looking rather like an animal about to strike as he tightened his grip on Cloud a bit as the blond stared at the strange man with wide eyes.

"What the hell are you doing here Hojo?" The red head hissed out. Before the scientist could answer though the black leather clad hand that had hold of the back of his lab coat came into view.

"He's here to check Cloud over, no more, no less, isn't that right Hojo?" Sephiroth said in a low voice while giving the smaller man a shake. Knowing that there was little he could do against the four SOLDIERs Hojo merely nodded and pushed his glasses up while reminding himself that he could simply make them pay during their next 'appointments'.

It took a lot of assuring from all the men in the room, aside from Hojo, that it was safe for the creepy man to look Cloud over, after it had already taken them an hour to convince Cloud that it was safe enough for him to stop clinging to Genesis as a life line, though the mild sedative that Hojo had stuck him with in the leg, might have had something to do with Cloud finally releasing the red head from his death grip. Another hour after all of this Hojo was promptly thrown out of the room after offering to give Cloud a 'head start' on his SOLDIER training while holding up another hypodermic syringe from his lab coat.

"Seriously Seph, what the hell were you thinking bringing him here?" Zack grumbled out as he sprawled out on the floor in front of where Cloud was now seated on the couch, snuggly between both Sephiroth and Genesis.

"I use him, this stays off the books." Sephiroth said simply as though the answer had been staring Zack in the face. At his statement though, Genesis looked at him curiously over Cloud's head.

"And what's it going to cost you? Hojo does nothing for free and everyone knows it." He asked slowly. At this Sephiroth sighed and leaned his head on his hand.

"I have two 'appointments' with him next month instead of one." He said spiting the statement out as though it left a bad taste in his mouth. Cloud listened to all this quietly and couldn't help the small frown that appeared on his face.

"I-I'm so sorry." He whispered out earning him shocked looks from the other three men in the room. "If I had… had just gone back to… back to my room, none of this would have happened." The blond said quickly as a shaky breath escaped from him.

Sephiroth stood up once again and held a hand out to Cloud helping the small teen up off the couch. For a heartbreaking moment Cloud was worried that they had all finally realized he wasn't worth all the trouble and was going to send him away, but the thought flew out of his head quickly as the General pulled him into a tight embrace.

"Come on, let's get you cleaned up and then we need to know exactly what you remember." The taller man said gently before leading Cloud down the small hall back to the bedroom once again and then into the connected bathroom.

Cloud marveled at the spacious bathroom for a moment before Sephiroth handed him a fluffy white towel and a shirt that was bound to end up being more like a nightdress on the blond's smaller frame, but Cloud wasn't really concerned about that, and mumbled a small thank you and left out a slightly startled squeak when Sephiroth leaned down and planted a quick kiss on his lips. Cloud turned his usual bright red, and Sephiroth couldn't help but feel a little pleased as he'd seemed to manage chasing away at least a few of Cloud's dark thoughts.

"Take as long as you need and yell if you need anything." Cloud could only nod at the instructions before letting out a long sigh as Sephiroth slipped out of the bathroom, closing the door behind himself.

The General at that point had never wanted to hurt someone as badly as he wanted to hurt Marcus Leften in that moment and as he made his way back out to the living room he silently swore that the other cadet would be lucky if he lived to see the end of week.

* * *

Note: And that was the longest chapter of this story so far and I feel terrible about it! I hate tormenting poor Cloud, but like I said this story isn't going to be all fun and games there will be drama moments abound! But like I also said, they will be moments. A little bit more drama ahead in the next chapter but after that we'll see a return to normalcy… at least for a little. And then I will torture Cloud some more.


	9. In Which There Be Mum's Afoot

I am so sorry for the long delay of this! So much has been going on in my life, school, job change, to many jobs at once and the our router died. . Anyway moving on. I don't know how good this chapter is I think it's a bit blah but it's my first one in a while and the next one should be better ^.^ In the chapter I decided there needed to be a drama break.

Disclaimers: See chapter 1.

* * *

Chapter 9 – In Which There Be Mum's Afoot

Cloud sighed into the spray of the shower as the warm water hit him, slowly making the tense muscles relax. His mind was still a bit fuzzy over what had happened but everything was slowly coming back to him, and he grimaced a bit at the thought of having to tell the others about what exactly had happened. It wasn't anything that he couldn't mentally handle; he was use to being a punching bag. Though he knew refusing to talk about it would only make the situation seem worse then it really was to the others most likely. He knew he had always felt better after talking to Tifa about getting his ass handed to him so he could only assume that he would feel more at ease with what had just happened if he talked to the others, as it was more the obvious that they had no intention of kicking him out of the little group over it. And that in itself was a great load off of his mind

Turning his face away from the spray he took notice of the bath products lined up along the ledge that stuck out from the side of the one wall. Cloud had secretly hoped to play in the large bathtub on the other side of the bathroom but he was equally as content to be in the large shower with the various sprays raining down on him. The shower truly felt like heaven. Picking up the first bottle he sniffed at it carefully after flipping the cap up and his nose was hit with the scent of apples, realizing right away that the gel he'd picked up no doubt belonged to Genesis. Cloud closed the cap and reached for the next one and after opening it sniffed lightly and his nose was hit with a slightly spicy scent, he could pick up on the scent of sandalwood, his mother being fond of using the scent in the house, but the others he couldn't quite place. All he knew was that it smelled divine.

He lathered up with the delightful smelling gel and stood still just allowing the water to do its job in rinsing him off. He then reached for the first shampoo bottle and again was assaulted with the scent of apples, no bout Genesis again, he thought with a small little laugh. Putting it back he picked up what was surely Sephiroth's legendary shampoo of twelve different scents. Opening the cap he sniffed at it for a moment and simply looked at the bottle in shock. He could clearly smell sandalwood again, as well as a hint of rose and cinnamon, there was also a faint hint of jasmine, but that was all. Twelve different scents his ass! Those Silver Elite bitches obviously had some bad information. While he enjoyed the scents he closed the cap and reached for the apple shampoo again. Reaching up slowly he started to lather his hair but as the suds from the shampoo hit the small cut on his head he couldn't stop the hiss that escaped from him.

In the living room the four SOLDIERs were currently discussing the situation in hushed voices, though there was, as always that occasionally out burst from either Genesis or Zack, but that was to be expected when the two of them had a serious conversation about anything.

"So what's the plan?" Zack asked, finally sitting up from his sprawled position on the floor and leaning himself against Angeal's legs.

"How does a SOLDIER fight any battle?" Sephiroth asked with a murderous glint in his eyes.

"Find out everything we can about Leften, find his weakness and then take him out." Genesis said with a hint of maniacal glee in his voice, which caused Zack to shudder a bit.

"We need to be careful though, if word gets out of what happened it could have repercussions for Cloud." Angeal said evenly, being the voice of reason as always. However Sephiroth didn't miss a beat.

"Well we'll just have to act quickly then won't we?" He hissed out, his tone dark and dripping with murderous intent. As he finished the sentence though the sound of Cloud's small hiss carried down the short hall to the four other men. They all quickly went to stand but Genesis was the first on his feet.

"I'll take care of him." The red head purred out, causing Angeal and Zack to roll their eyes and Sephiroth to merely smirk.

Cloud cursed softly as the stinging sensation and damn near jumped out of his skin at the sound of another voice aside from his own in the bathroom.

"Everything all right in there lil 'Bo?" Genesis asked stepping into the bathroom and shutting the door behind himself.

"The cut…" Cloud whined out knowing that he probably sounded really childish at the moment, but his head hurt damn it! As soon as Cloud had said that though Genesis realized that the blond must had tried washing his hair, especially when he smelled apples.

"Silly little chocobo." Genesis chided lightly while opening the glass door of the shower, he didn't know how the blond would react, but said blond was naked and Genesis would never forgive himself if he missed the opportunity to see him in such a state of undress.

Cloud's eye bugged out of his head at the sight of Genesis when the man opened the shower door, his eyes darting from the naked red head to the trail of clothes from the door to the shower and back again. The blond gulped as his eyes trailed down Genesis's toned frame, his roving eyes coming to rest on a dick that had to be a gift from the Goddess herself. Genesis couldn't help but smirk at the almost hungry expression that appeared on the blond's face before he reached out for him. Genesis found the water a little cooler then he would have preferred but he supposed the temperature was normal for most people. As he was pulled gently against Genesis's firm form Cloud couldn't help the little sigh that escaped from him as he slowly looked up at the taller man, meeting his intense gaze.

"What- what are you doing?" Cloud asked softly. Genesis grinned at the question while trailing a hand down Cloud's back, marveling in the expanse of pale flesh in front of him for a moment.

"I'm taking care of you." He said before lowering his head and capturing Cloud's lips in a heated kiss. Genesis quickly set about mapping every crevice in the small blond's mouth with his tongue while Cloud was helpless to do little more then wrap his arms around Genesis's neck and moan.

Finally breaking the kiss Genesis nudged Cloud's head to the side, exposing the smooth column of his pale throat before launching his sensual assault of kisses and licks causing Cloud to mewl out his appreciation of the attention and tangle his hand in the hair at the back of Genesis's head, his small hand tugging every so often. And the small tugs were going straight to Genesis's groin. It was taking all the man's will power to not press Cloud up against the wall and have his way with him. Instead of doing what his body urged him to though he pulled Cloud tighter against himself and leaned down licking the shell of the blond's ear causing Cloud to let loose a breathy moan.

This had to be heaven, nothing else could describe the sensations that Genesis was causing to run though his body. Slowly Genesis ran his hand down Cloud's backside once more but rather then stop at his lower back as he had before he hand kept going, reaching down to cup the blond's firm little ass. A small delicious squeak escaped from Cloud at the feeling before he moaned again in something akin to disappointment as Genesis slowly turned him around so that his back was pressed against the red head's chest. He squirmed in delight at the feel of Genesis's erection pressing against his lower back and murmured words of nonsense as the larger man slowly mapped every contour of his chest with the palm of his hand before reaching up again to pinch playfully at the blond's nipples.

"Gen… Genesis." Cloud whispered out in a breathy gasp, said man lifted his head from where he'd been licking at the blond's neck with a small smirk playing across his lips.

"Mmm… I like the way you say my name… Cloud." He purred out while slowly reaching down and taking the blond firmly in hand. Cloud's head rolled forward and Genesis took the opportunity to lick along the back of his neck. Cloud was absolutely mouth watering as he arched his back, pressing himself closer to Genesis and thrusting into the older man's hand at the same time.

Genesis stroked Cloud slowly, the blond writhing at his touches. He wanted to wipe all memory of the event that had happened out of Cloud's mind and leave him with nothing but the memory of the pleasure that he was giving him.

The sounds of the blond's whimpers and moans carried down the short hall to the three men still in the living room. Zack had long since flushed a brilliant shade of red, Angeal looked at though he hadn't heard a thing, or at least that is what one would have thought if the didn't catch the small pink tinge on his cheeks. Sephiroth on the other hand looked positively smug about the whole thing.

"Seriously! What the hell?" Zack finally exclaimed pointing down the hall as a particularly loud moan was heard.

"Genesis is taking care of Cloud. Nothing to get in a snit about Zachary." Sephiroth said with the smug look staying firmly in place.

"If that's how the two of you take care of things, then for the love of all that's holy, let me die in battle!" Zack wailed out causing both Angeal and Sephiroth to chuckle lightly at him.

The gentle stroking from Genesis quickened and Cloud's head fell back, his breath coming in short pants as waves of pleasure crashed over him. If this kept up he wasn't sure if he was going to die or come, either was possible in his mind at that moment. Genesis leaned a forward a bit gently latching on to the side of Cloud's throat, sucking lightly at the pale skin. He could feel the blond's body tensing in his arms and mentally gave the blond props for lasting as long as he had.

"Come for me Cloud, let go." He purred into the small teen's ear. At his words of encouragement Cloud let out a faint and choked cry as his release crashed over him. The small body twitched in the red head's arms for a moment as Cloud slowly but surely came down from the high that Genesis had educed in him.

Letting out a small shaky sigh Cloud found himself quickly flipped around and gathered into strong arms while the shower continued to wash away the evidence of what had just happened. Slowly bright blue eyes met mako enhanced orbs, a look of contentment over taking Cloud's features. At this Genesis smirked slightly before lifting the blond up a little and crushing their lips together for a long moment. "Feeling better now little 'Bo?" The red head asked softly and Cloud not quite trusting his voice at the moment, merely nodded his head causing the young man to chuckle slightly before reaching out and finally turning off the shower water.

"Come on let's get you dry." He said simply before reaching out and grabbing a fluffy towel, wrapping the small blond up in it and rubbing him briskly. Cloud turned about ten different shades of red during this from both thinking about what had just happened and the treatment that he was getting now. Once he was dry he slipped on the shirt that Sephiroth had let for him and sure enough it was more of less a nightdress on him and seeing him standing there like that caused Genesis to let out an amused chuckle as he quickly dried himself off before walking out of the bathroom with nothing but the towel slung around his waist.

Cloud couldn't seem to stop himself from following the tantalizing display with his eyes before he slowly came back to himself and finally had enough sense to head out of the bathroom as well. True, if he'd had his way he would have been staying in the bathroom for much, much longer, but he knew he had to come out of there eventually and tell the guys what it was he remembered from the attack. As much as he didn't want to admit it though, he remembered everything and none of it was pleasant to say the least on the subject. Despite knowing what it was that he had to go do, Cloud let himself just stand there for a moment while he watched Genesis dig though Sephiroth's drawers, his mouth opening slightly in shock at the scene before him. The red head seemed to be on a mission to find something but what it was, was anyone's guess the blond figured with a small mental shrug of his shoulders.

Cloud couldn't help but imagine that watching Genesis at that moment was sort of like watching a twister rip through a trailer park. It was such an amusing thought that he couldn't stop the small giggle that escaped from him at the sight. Genesis turned his head with a smirk dancing across his features. "Something funny cadet?" he asked the smirk turning into a wolfish smile as he found himself relieved to see Cloud laughing at something, even if at that moment it was him.

"A little, but isn't Seph going to be a little mad?" He asked not really noticing the slip of the tongue while motioning towards the clothes that were now scattered about the room and the thoroughly trashed drawer that the red head was still digging through even as Cloud spoke.

"He'll have a hard time being mad at me with you calling him Seph like that." He said with a wiggle of his eyebrows causing Cloud to blush yet again. "After that," he exclaimed pausing in his quest and pointing towards the bathroom. "You still manage to blush!" He finished with a laugh while turning back to his digging and finally spotting what he had been looking for.

Cloud could feel his face heating up as Genesis dropped the towel from around his waist without even a hint of warning and slipped into a soft looking pair of drawstring pants. "I knew the bastard had them here." He muttered out before picking up the towel again and starting to dry his hair. "All right, back to the living room with you." Genesis finally said. Cloud sighed a little but allowed himself to be lead back out to the living room with no fuss on his part.

As they headed into the living room they were met with an indifferent looking Angeal, smirking Sephiroth and brilliantly blushing Zack. It was in that moment that Cloud remembered… mako enhanced hearing as well! Cloud could feel his face heating up yet again, to the point that he was sure his head would pop! "I don't know who is redder the puppy, the chocobo or the brat." Angeal said with an amused sort of snort. At this Genesis frowned and looked down at himself wondering what the hell Angeal was talking about when it dawned on him that the pants he'd put on were bright red.

"Oh har har Angeal, har har." He said flatly before gathering Cloud into his arms and flopping down onto the couch, leaning against Sephiroth as he settled. Cloud squeaked a little before deciding to just go with it as he allowed himself to be shifted around in the red head's lap. Slowly he felt himself relaxing into the hold as heat poured off both men in waves, soothing him to the point were he was almost starting to feel sleepy. Sephiroth watched the blond relax with a small smirk playing at his lips, it was nice to see Cloud looking so much better already. Having long since taken off his gloves he reached over letting his fingers trail through the wet blond locks, being mindful of the bump, and then brought his hand down to hook his finger under the blond's chin turning Cloud's face towards him.

"All right Cloud, tell us what happened." He said trying to sound as gentle as he possibly could, though he didn't know how well it went over because he wasn't exactly known for being gentle. Cloud allowed himself to lean into the touch for a moment, still so sure he was dreaming all of this before letting out a small sigh, and he seemed to be doing that a lot since his shower.

"First, let me apologize for the way I acted over the whole thing." He mumbled out slowly glancing around at everyone for a moment before looking down at his hands. At this Zack sat up a bit straighter and looked at his friend.

"Nothing to be sorry for Spiky it wasn't your fault." He said sternly. This earned the 2nd class a small smile and shake of the blond's head.

"Nah Zack, I should have been more aware of where I was and aside from that, you'd think I'd be use to it by now." He all but growled out while rubbing his head a little. At the statement though he quickly found himself under the intense gaze of four rather annoyed looking SOLDIERs, although he more felt the look Genesis was giving the back of his head.

"Use to it?" Sephiroth growled out. "And why exactly would you be use to it?" The little blond couldn't stop the alarmed squeak that escaped him caused by both Sephiroth's sudden change in demeanor and Genesis's hold on him suddenly tightening a bit.

"Oh, well… back home…" Cloud trailed off slowly remembering that the others weren't aware of what his hometown had been like, well aside from Zack. Also as he trailed, it finally dawned on Sephiroth, number four on the 'to do' list that he had found with Cloud's stuff.

"Cloud you will never let me hear you say anything like that ever again. Do you understand me?" Sephiroth asked his cat like eyes boring into Cloud's. Slowly but surely the small blond nodded his head to show his understanding, even if he really didn't understand why his getting his ass handed to him caused such a fuss for everyone.

He still remembered the day, two years ago now, that his father had to drag his mother into the house kicking and screaming after she had tried to launch herself at a guy who had given him a black eye on his way home from school. Almost as if thinking about the woman sent out some sort of distress beacon the phone in the corner of Sephiroth's living room began to ring. The group exchanged glances for a moment before the General stood and went to the phone.

"What?" He answered gruffly his tone of voice letting there be no question that he was annoyed at being disturbed.

"Apologies sir, but we have a woman on the phone claiming that you have her son." At this Sephiroth glanced towards Cloud for a moment with a curious expression.

"Her name?"

"Strife, sir."

"Put her through." There was then a beep to signal that a call was coming through. "Mrs. Strife…"

"Where's Cloud?" The woman exclaimed quickly cutting him off.

"Ma'am, Cloud is fine I assure…" He visibly puffed up as he was cut off yet again.

"Don't lie to me! What happened?" She demanded quickly. At this Sephiroth merely sighed and held the phone out towards Cloud. The blond went wide eyed for a moment before slowly slipping from Genesis's lap and making his way toward the phone.

"H-hello?" He stated slowly not really wanting to believe that it was his mother on the other end of the line.

"Cloud? Oh thank the goddess!" The woman exclaimed. "See I told you he was all right." He could hear his father saying in the background. Cloud couldn't help but giggle at that. Ah his parents, always an interesting time to be had. "What happened Cloud?" His mother asked sounding much calmer now then she had only a moment before.

"Some dick in my class jumped me in the locker room. I got a bump on the head but I'm fine." He said rubbing his head as he spoke.

"Oh and what did the big bad soldier boys do about it?" the woman grumbled out.

"Mum!" Cloud squawked out at her. "They took care of me." He said while his cheeks turned bright pink thinking back to the shower for a moment. "Got me checked out and everything." He added matter of factly hoping it would relax her a bit more.

"Is that so?" She asked only a hint if disbelief in her voice now.

"Really Mum I swear!" Cloud exclaimed his free arm flailing around so much that both Zack and Angeal had to duck at one point to avoid being hit on the head.

"Put that General of yours back on." She finally said with a sigh. Cloud knew better then to argue with her and simply held the phone back out towards Sephiroth. Eyeing the phone like it was going to bite him he slowly accepted it back from the blond.

"Yes Mrs. Strife?" He asked slowly bracing himself.

"If anything happens to him you'll need that whole damn army of yours to stop me, are we clear?" She asked in a sickeningly sweet tone.

"Crystal ma'am." He said his eyes going wide for moment, the woman could be an interrogator for Shin-Ra! Were all mothers like this? He couldn't help but wonder.

"Good, now do me a favor and find that son of a bitch and make him pay." She finished with a hint that she would accept nothing less.

"With pleasure Mrs. Strife." He said without a moment's hesitation.

"Glad we understand each other General, good night." She said before hanging up leaving Sephiroth standing there blinking for a moment before finally hanging up the phone himself. Slowly he turned his attention back towards Cloud who looked mortified to say the least.

"I am so sorry!" he exclaimed. "I can't believe she did that!" He whined out plastering his hands to his face while praying he would melt into the floor as Zack snickered at him.

"I think it was kind of sweet." Genesis cooed from where he was now sprawled across the couch. "If not a little creepy." He added with a snicker of his own.

* * *

End Chapter 9!

As always I may or may not go back and fix any typos or such this is all me here folks. Next chapter will focus more on the guys stalking Leften around then much of Cloud but he'll be there in the beginning.


	10. In Which Things Mellow… Kinda?

All right here is Chapter 10… finally! This was originally going to be the chapter without much Cloud but apparently the boys had other plans. There isn't much action in this chapter though but there is plenty of fluff and a little funny. Take it for what it is but the next chapter should hopefully be more interesting than this one XD Also I did make an edit to the chapter before this so you may want to go back and reread that one before this or just keep in mind that as of Chapter 9 Cloud has been at Shin-Ra for a month, I don't think I originally mentioned how much time had passed since Angeal and Zack took over his training since Seph and Gen can't keep their hands to themselves.

Disclaimers: See chapter 1 and of course all grammar and spelling issues are mine and they may or may not be fixed later... lazy! But I am also still in the market for a beta if anyone is up for the job, it also means you'll get to see the chapters before anyone else!

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Chapter 10 – In Which Things Mellow… Kinda?

After half an hour or so of Sephiroth trying to get Genesis to sit up properly on the couch, the red head obviously buying the blond some time to recover from his mother's rather surprising phone call, everyone finally settled back down. Sephiroth was back in his seat once more with Genesis lying on the couch, his head resting on the silver haired man's thigh while Cloud was surprised to find himself lounging against Genesis's chest, listening to the faster than normal heartbeat that he found there. He supposed the strange sounding heartbeat would throw most people off but he couldn't help but find it comforting in its own way, no matter how different it was it reminded him that this was all real and that he wasn't just going to randomly wake up. Considering he'd never really been this close with anyone, he still couldn't really believe it all and yet here he was getting attacked, the most amazing hand job of his young life and then… well snuggled for lack of a better word all in one day

The blond jumped slightly when he was suddenly poked in the shoulder by Zack who, without him noticing, had moved from where he'd been seated on the floor by Angeal and was now crouched next to him, looking at him with an expectant face.

"Oh right…" Cloud blinked slowly for a moment trying to fight off the urge to sleep that had washed over him. "Well I left Hand to Hand and headed into the locker room. When I got there I checked it out first to make sure it was empty before I even jumped in the shower…" He started out slowly.

_Flashback_

_Cloud made sure to keep his shower short, despite the fact that he could normally spend an hour in one if he really wanted to, he'd gotten yelled at by his mother many a time about that. "If all queens take this long in the shower it's a wonder there is any water left on Gaia!" She would yell outside the bathroom door. At home though he didn't have a reason to be quick, now he just really didn't want to run the risk of someone coming in there while he was and heaven help him if Leften got in there without him realizing it. Regardless of the gloomy thought that had washed over him he'd managed to make it in and out of the shower before anyone else had come in. Sure enough someone did make it in there, but it was one of the other cadets that Cloud had helped find their way the first day of classes. The two exchanged a few pleasant words before the other cadet had left as Cloud finished getting dressed. He was putting his shirt on when he was suddenly grabbed from behind. The material of the shirt was still bunched around his head so he couldn't see who it was at first, though the minute the other spoke Cloud didn't need to see his face._

"_No one coming to your rescue now is there?" The other guy mocked out. It didn't take a rocket scientist to know who it was that now had Cloud damn near in a head lock. The little blond though wasn't about to just let him do whatever so he quickly managed to wrench one of his arms free and drive his elbow back into the other teen's stomach, causing him to yell out in pain for a moment before Cloud suddenly felt himself flying forward._

"_Think you're so tough eh? Ya little SOLDIER bitch!" Leften yelled out before grabbing Cloud by the back of his hair and slamming the blonde's head roughly against the tile of the locker room wall. Cloud blinked for a long moment stunned by what happened before he was hoisted up by his collar and suddenly Leften was in his face again, his free hand running suggestively down Cloud's side. The blond squirmed trying to get away from the larger teen but being as dazed as he was from the blow to the head, the fight had all but left him, at least until the ugly teen tried to kiss him. Even half out of his head it was suddenly on like Donkey Kong and Cloud thrust his head forward causing Leften to push him back against the wall again roughly, turning his head into a bouncy ball once more against the wall as he clutched at his now split lip._

"_Don't think this is over pretty, not by a long shot." The larger teen sneered before turning and heading out of the locker room quickly._

_End Flashback._

"And then you guys found me in the shower stall just after that." He said nodding towards Angeal and Zack. "I guess it's because he tried to kiss me that I freaked, out of all the times I ever got my ass kicked none of them ever tried to do that." He said with a shudder before slowly calming down once again as Genesis started to run a warm hand up and down his back slowly and Sephiroth leaned to the side, planting a light kiss to the blonde's injured head.

"Oh Spiky." Zack said softly reaching out and patting Cloud's arm lightly before he finally stood back up and went back over to sit next to Angeal again.

As he sat back again a look that promised nothing but pain for the other teen darkened Sephiroth's expression. Genesis on the other hand glared up at the ceiling as he continued his gentle strokes along Cloud's back. Zack hadn't even noticed how tense he was until Angeal reached down and placed a hand on his shoulder, giving it a squeeze in an attempt to calm him. His eyes went wide for a moment before he looked at his lover and then followed Angeal's gaze back toward where Cloud was now lightly dozing on Genesis's chest. Zack's expression softened and he caught Sephiroth's gaze, wincing for a moment at the dark expression before nodding his head towards Cloud. Sephiroth followed the look and his own expression slowly softened as well, taking in the sight before he slowly stood up again.

He took Cloud carefully into his arms and carried the blond down the hall back into the bedroom. Laying him down and bringing up the blankets, Sephiroth turned to leave but a gentle tug on his arm stopped him. He looked back down, his cat like eyes glinting in the dim light of the room as they adjusted to see the blond more clearly. Cloud blinked up at him, his eyes hazy with sleep, and his other hand coming up to uselessly rub at them.

"What is it Cloud?" He asked while moving to sit at the edge of the bed. At the question Cloud thought for a moment about what Genesis had said about him calling the other man Seph and decided to roll with it, and if it didn't work he figured he could always blame it on being sleepy and being hit in the head... yeah he was plotting a little, so what! When you're in the bed of someone that hot… well, you know…

"Will you lay with me Seph?" He murmured out softly giving the silver haired man a sleepy look. A small smile graced the older man's face for a moment and he nodded his head slowly. The moment had been so quick that Cloud honestly wasn't sure if he'd seen it or not.

"Give me a second." He said patting Cloud's hand before going over to his dresser and finally seeing the mess that Genesis had left in the room. "I'm going to kill that damn idiot." He muttered to himself shaking his head slightly before grabbing a pair of drawstring pants and heading into the bathroom. Cloud couldn't help but feel a little disappointed at the fact that Sephiroth had gone into the bathroom to change cloths but he felt a small flutter of excitement in his stomach when he reappeared in nothing but the pants.

Sephiroth walked back over to the left side of the bed and nudged the blond a bit and Cloud taking the hint, quickly shifted over towards the middle of the large bed before Sephiroth climbed in and settled down. Cloud just laid there for a long moment staring at the man with a slightly dazed look on his face before Sephiroth reached out and gathered Cloud into his arms pulling the blond snuggly against his chest. Cloud let out a small squeak in surprise at the sudden movement but quickly relaxed into the embrace.

"Thank you." Cloud muttered out softly finally allowing his eyes to drift shut again. Sephiroth couldn't help the small smile that crossed his face at this before placing a kiss to the blonde's forehead. Cloud sighed softly at the tender gesture and slowly felt himself drifting off to sleep again.

Sephiroth wasn't sure how long he had laid there watching the small blond sleeping in his arms. It was one of the few times he could ever remember losing track of time. The soft sounds Cloud made in his sleep were easily caught by the General's sharp hearing. That was the sight that Genesis walked in on and he couldn't stop the smirk that crept onto his face. Heading around to the right side of the bed he slipped in, snuggling up against the other two and as he did Sephiroth lifted his head a bit and looked at the red head.

"You've been in here for about an hour, Angeal and the puppy just left, they said we can 'discuss' things tomorrow when Cloud heads out on drills." He said quickly while shifting around a little bit to get situated, but at the same time being careful not to wake Cloud.

Rather than say anything Sephiroth merely nodded his head in response and put his head back down on his pillow finally allowing the feeling of sleep that had been tugging at him to have its way and overcome him.

Slowly clawing his way out of sleep Cloud couldn't ever remember his bed being so warm. If he weren't so relaxed at that moment and didn't feel as safe as he did, he most likely would have found the heat to be stifling but that wasn't the case. Turning over slightly he found himself face to face with a smirking Genesis. Cloud's eyes went wide for a moment before it all slowly started to come back to him, Sephiroth putting him to bed and then him asking him to stay with him. How he could forget he was in such a hot ass man's bed was beyond him, he blamed the blow to the head, yep that had to be it. He glanced over his shoulder and sure enough there was Sephiroth, eyes closed and mouth parted slightly in sleep looking nothing like the stern General he was known to be when he was awake. Cloud's face crinkled a little in joy at the sight that greeted him before he looked back to Genesis again. The red head smirked once again, but there was nothing suggestive about, just a pleasant little tug of the lips that he was too tired to make into a full smile, or at least that's what Cloud thought, though maybe his mind just wasn't that perverted until he was fully awake. The internal clock that Genesis had was telling him that Cloud technically didn't have to be up yet.

"You know you don't have to be up for another forty minutes. I'm surprised you're awake, we've been waking you throughout the night to check your head." He told the blond. At this Cloud nodded his head though he didn't remember being woken and slowly rolled back over and presented Genesis his back. The red head grinned again before reaching out and wrapping his arms around the blonde's middle and pulling him to his chest. "Oh my, now this feels familiar doesn't it?" He purred causing Cloud to shudder slightly, his body remembering very well what this position had led to last time he found himself in it. "Want to see something amusing?" He suddenly whispered. At the question Cloud found himself confused and slightly curious so he nodded his head quickly. "Rub your finger up and down his nose." He said lowly.

Cloud raised a brow but did as he was told, slowly reaching out and gently rubbing his finger along Sephiroth's nose. It started slowly but Cloud could clearly see Sephiroth's face starting to wrinkle up like he was either in pain or smelling Zack's cooking. Cloud just barely let out a giggle when he was suddenly seized but the wrist and his finger was being nipped at playfully by surprisingly sharp canines.

"You know, you shouldn't be letting Genesis teach you bad habits." Sephiroth grumbled as he slowly opened his eyes. The cat like pupils dilated in the little bit of light that was making its way into the room from the hall. Usually the bedroom would have been pitch black, but because Cloud had been there Genesis had left the hall light on just in case the blond had woken up and needed to find his way around the room, though he'd no doubt that had the blond woken during the night on his own, at least one, if not both of them would have been right by his side.

"I know…" The blonde murmured out, his eyes transfixed on Sephiroth's mouth which was now curved into a rather amused smirk before he grabbed hold of the teen, pulling him away from Genesis and rolling so that he was pinned below him, his long silver hair falling like a curtain around the two and the red head merely watched with a sleepy yet amused expression on his face.

"As much as we would like to keep you in bed all day…" the General said nosing his way along Cloud's jawline leaving a trail of kisses in his wake. "You have drills today." He ended with a quick kiss before rolling again so that Cloud was now resting on his chest with a pouty look on his face at the mention of drills. Sephiroth didn't know what it was but he always found himself to be more affectionate first thing in the morning, he supposed it was because it was before he had to get up and be "the General".

Genesis finally propped himself up on an arm and reached out gently trailing a hand down Cloud's back again causing the small blond to shudder happily. "How are you feeling this morning?" He finally asked with a still slightly sleepy, yet serious expression.

"I was perfect until _someone_ reminded me about my drills today." He said with a pout clearly in place. He didn't know if it was because of what had happened yesterday with Genesis in the shower or because he had woken up between the two men but Cloud was feeling rather confident that morning about the whole situation he found himself in, not to mention the fact that he'd been at the academy for almost a month and this, whatever it was had been building since he'd arrived. The comment and the pout merely caused both men to chuckle lightly.

"All right you better get dressed; one of us will walk you back to your room." Sephiroth finally said after the three of them had laid there for a few more moments. Cloud opened his mouth and looked like he was about to protest being walked back to his room when Sephiroth held a finger to the blonde's lips. "Not just to make sure you make it there safely but because cadets are not supposed to be on this floor without a SOLDIER escort or special clearance, which you don't have." He explained though the 'yet' that was going to end the sentence was left unspoken. The ruffled feather look slowly left Cloud's face at that and he merely shrugged his shoulders before letting out a squeak of surprise as he was suddenly in the air. Genesis laughed from where he was now standing beside the bed and holding Cloud in his arms for a moment before he set the small teen down.

Cloud huffed slightly, which caused both SOLDIERs to laugh at him for a moment again before he made his way into the bathroom and shut the door behind himself. As soon as the door had clicked into place the two exchanged a look. "Go, I'll meet you." Sephiroth said simply before Genesis nodded and headed out quickly. While he waited for Cloud to come out, the General went about gathering his clothes as well as finding a shirt the blonde could wear at least until he got back to his room. As Cloud shuffled his way from the bathroom he squeaked again as he was quickly lifted off the ground and found himself in a rather heated lip lock for so early in the morning, his legs automatically wrapping around the taller man's waist, which pleased Sephiroth to no end.

"I'll be out in a few minutes." Sephiroth said before setting Cloud down and grabbing his things, he handed Cloud the shirt and then headed into the bathroom. Cloud wondered out to the living room after putting on the shirt, wishing more than anything he could be a fly on the bathroom wall at that moment and it wasn't until he flopped down onto the couch that he finally took note that Genesis was gone. He mentally shrugged to himself for a moment assuming that the man had things to do that morning that didn't include doing him.

Indeed he had, at least as far as he was concerned he did. Genesis was currently busy stalking down the halls towards the room that Leften was in, after he dug the information out of the computer system. Lazard must have figured that the group would try to find the guy after Zack had let the information slip because Genesis had to crack a rather annoying password system to get the information. He may have been a pretty face but that didn't mean he wasn't smart, far smarter than Lazard gave him credit for apparently if the fact that it only took him about ten minutes to crack the system and get the information he was after. What he hadn't counted on though was the fact that by cracking the system he'd sent an alert right to Lazard's office.

Back in the General's room Cloud caught himself enjoying the smell of the shirt he was now wearing, it smelled faintly of Sephiroth and leather, no doubt because the man had been holding it with his own clothes until he handed it to Cloud, but the blond stopped himself from burying his nose in it and letting the scent drag him back off to sleep. He was so focused on not allowing himself to drift back to sleep that Sephiroth suddenly appearing in his line of vision was enough to make him jump a bit.

"Come on Cloud let's get you back to your room." He said a small smirk crossing his features at the way the little blonde had jumped. Cloud nodded slightly, still obviously trying to wake himself up completely before following the taller man out of the apartment. The walk back to Cloud's room was silent and he couldn't really say he was all that surprised when they arrived and the older man followed him into the room. This Cloud knew had nothing to do with an escort and was just because the other wanted to make sure he didn't get jumped again, but between being slightly horny from the exchanges first thing in the morning and still a bit sleepy he couldn't find it in himself to get to bent out of shape about it anymore, but he had no doubt he would be later.

Changing into a fresh uniform he grabbed his kit from the closet and headed back out into the living area where Sephiroth was sitting on the couch. He looked up at the sleepy blond who was now rubbing his eyes and took pity on the blond. "Come here Cloud." He said simply before the blond shuffled over to him. Sephiroth grabbed hold of the bag slung over his shoulder and tossed it to sit on the other chair before tugging the blond down into his lap. "You have time for a half hour more of sleep." He said simply urging the blond to rest his head on his shoulder. Cloud let a small yawn escape him before rubbing his cheek softly against the leather clad shoulder and allowing his body to relax.

Sephiroth smirked slightly as the younger man drifted off and couldn't help but marvel at how peaceful he looked when he was sleeping. When he was awake Cloud's face was so animated and expressive but when he was sleeping, he looked even younger than his sixteen years. He didn't know what possessed him to do it, whether it was Cloud himself or the annoying little voice that liked to show up in his head be he silently vowed to do whatever he had to too protect the little blonde and personally make anyone that harmed him pay either at his own hands or the tip of Masamune.

From where he had situated himself in one of the many balconies overlooking the cadet training grounds Genesis watched and listened like a hawk as Marcus Leften was doing his morning run. He mused to himself silently that the kid most likely wouldn't make it into the program past cadet training if he'd been there this long and hadn't picked up on the fact that he had been followed from the time he had left his room that morning but the thought wasn't enough to calm the anger that was coursing through the red head's veins. His PHS going off finally broke his concentration.

"Yes Angeal?" He purred into the device, having recognized the ring tone for his friend in the first two notes. "I'm on balcony D." He said simply before clicking the device off and turning his attention back to the idiot in the field.

Back in Cloud's room he woke again slowly to a gentle nudge and looked up at Sephiroth, blinking his eyes for a moment but already looking far more alert than he had when he woke up the first time that day. "As much as I would enjoy staying like this all day, we've got to get you to the training grounds." He said before standing with Cloud still in his arms. The blond looked at him in confusion which merely caused him to smirk. "How did you think I was going to get you there on time?" He said with a deep chuckle as he grabbed Cloud's bag off the chair and headed for the door. Closing it behind him he glanced down. "Hold on." was all he said before he took off down the hall.

If Cloud's hair didn't spike naturally it would have from the sheer speed of the run. As they neared the training field Cloud's half of the class was leaving from Sephiroth finally stopped and set the teen down on shaky legs. He really did look like a new born chocobo trying to walk for the first time. "We'll see you when you get back." He said wanting to kiss the blond again but being mindful of where they were. Once again though, he was stopped by a tug on his sleeve. He looked down to meet Cloud's wide eyed stare.

"Don't hurt him. I know he's a dick and deserves it, but don't. I don't want you guys sinking to his level." He said simply which stunned Sephiroth though it didn't show in his face.

"Is that a cadet giving a General an order?" He asked, his voice low but stern. Cloud bit his lip at the question and quickly shook his head.

"No, it's just… just someone who cares about you and the others and doesn't want to cause any trouble for anyone." He murmured out lowly but still managed to keep his gaze locked with the older man even though he was clearly in General mode now.

At the small admission Sephiroth's demeanor softened slightly. "Everything will be fine, focus on your training." He said before handing Cloud his bag and patting his shoulder for a moment before turning and heading back off with only a bit less speed than he'd used to get the two of them there. Cloud sighed slightly and watched until he could no longer see the black and silver blur before turning and heading to meet up with the rest of his classmates that were going on the drill, all while sending up a silent prayer to the Goddess that they four wouldn't do anything reckless.

Back on balcony D though it seemed the Goddess was on vacation as Genesis was now there with Angeal and Zack and the three were monitoring Leften as he continued his run. Sephiroth arrived to find the three of them silently staring down at the large teen, were he anyone else he most likely would have found the silence unnerving.

"I assume the idiot doesn't know he's being watched?" He asked stepping out onto the balcony to join the other three.

"Either that or he is just really good at pretending not to notice. I'm going to go with he's a damn dumb ass though." Genesis muttered out from where he stood causing Angeal to smirk and Zack to chuckle slightly.

"Cloud asked us not to hurt him." He said suddenly causing three shocked expressions to be shot at him, he merely shrugged.

"Spiky is too nice for his own good." Zack grumbled out causing the others to nod in agreement.

"You didn't tell him we wouldn't did you?" Genesis asked with a raised brow. Sephiroth merely shook his head at him.

"No, I merely stated that everything would be fine and that he should focus on his dills." He said simply, he opened his mouth to add to the statement when another voice chimed in from behind him.

"Indeed everything will be fine because you're all going to be honoring Cadet Strife's request and not lay a hand on Cadet Leften." The four turned quickly to find Lazard standing there with a frown on his usually impassive face.

"You can't expect us to stand by and let this guy torment Spiky." Zack snapped out surprising everyone. At the statement though, Lazard merely raised a brow.

"There was another incident the other day; we neglected to inform you because Cl- Cadet Strife did not wish to file a report." Sephiroth growled out between clenched teeth. Lazard frowned again for a moment before he shrugged his shoulders slightly.

"I see," He started before turning to walk away. "I do still stand by my statement though, you are forbidden from laying a hand on the Cadet." He said again but before the other four could burst out into protest he held up his hand. "Keep in mind that there are other attacks aside from physical, you're SOLDIERs, think about it." He said before slipping back inside. "Good day children." He said before slowly disappearing from sight.

It only took a second for the comment to register with the four men before they were all exchanging wicked smirks and glancing down towards the field once more.

"If this works, I'm going to kiss that man." Genesis said as his smirk twisted into something beyond cruel.

"Now that, I would pay to see." Zack muttered with a roll of his eyes which earned him a quick swat to the back of his head.

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End Chapter

Again I am so sorry for the delay of this chapter as well as the lack of action of all sorts, but alas like all stories there will be chapters at times that are just build up, hopefully it wasn't too painful to get through. Thanks for reading!


	11. In Which… There Will Be Blood

All right so here we go with what is probably the longest chapter to date for this story… When we last left our heroes… er… anyway, Lazard clearly told the guys no hurting… well we all know how good they listen now don't we? Drama and Blood ahead!

Disclaimers: See Chapter 1 and as always I'm lazy so any grammar or spelling issues may or may not get fixed at a later time. Ta sweeties! Enjoy!

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Chapter 11 – In Which… There Will Be Blood

"So how do we want to do this?" Angeal asked glancing at the schedule that was being projected on the office wall for the second time.

"That's easy, we'll be everywhere, I don't even want this idiot to think he can go to the bathroom alone because we've only got three days to do this." Sephiroth said simply, glancing at Angeal and Zack while drumming his fingers on the desk in obvious annoyance. He didn't like to be told what he could and couldn't do and he honestly wanted nothing more than to tear Leften apart but between Cloud's request and Lazard throwing up a road block it sort of hindered his plans. True, it didn't stop them entirely, which was a relief, but it put a severe kink in everything that he had been intending to do to the irksome cadet which was more than enough to put him in a foul mood.

"We just need to get him to admit what he did right?" Zack finally piped up. Sephiroth merely raised a brow at the question deciding that the puppy's brain had finally decided to join the party.

"Either that or Cloud would need to file a report." Angeal pointed out which had Genesis shaking his head quickly.

"Remember what happened to the last cadet that filed a report against another?" He asked the others. "No one wanted to work with him after that and he ended up dropping out of the program, we can't do that to him." He finished with a frown and the others nodded in agreement.

"We either get him to admit what happened or we drive him insane, personally I prefer the insanity route." Sephiroth finally said leaning back in his chair looking rather like the mad genius that many argued he was.

"Have you considered asking Vincent to assist?" Angeal asked which quickly earned him a glare from the silver haired man.

"Despite how much I may trust Vincent, unlike the rest of those crazy ass Turks, no. I will not be involving the Turks, in fact I don't even want them anywhere near anything to do with Cloud, let alone anywhere near Cloud himself." He said calmly. He knew that Vincent would assist if asked, no questions needed, but involving one meant the others would find out eventually and that was not something Sephiroth wished to deal with no matter how close the man had been to his mother.

"Come to think of it when is the last time anyone saw Vincent?" Zack suddenly mused from where he sat, seeming to be oblivious to the glare that Sephiroth was shooting at him.

"Good question, last time I saw him was probably two months ago, something about a special project he was being sent on." Genesis chimed in with a hint of puzzlement clear in his voice.

"Enough." Sephiroth growled out. "I have a meeting in a few minutes, Angeal, you and Zack have classes and Genesis will be attending the meeting with me, so you two have first watch."

Looking a little startled at the sudden growl the others merely nodded. Angeal and Zack stood and quickly made their exit from the office. Once out the door Zack looked to Angeal and raised a brow. "A little touchy today isn't he?" He mumbled out. Angeal smirked for a moment.

"Well think about it pup we hit on two rather touchy subjects, Seph being told he can't do something and Vincent." At the statement of fact Zack merely nodded before they headed off in the direction of where Leften was going to be having class.

Leaving the training field Marcus Leften couldn't quite shake the strange feeling he had been having since earlier that morning. When he'd been running he had the slight feeling that something was off but he couldn't quite place it and now he couldn't shake the feeling that he was being followed. Walking down the quiet hallway he slowly glanced this way and that but didn't notice anything out of the ordinary aside from the strange prickling feeling at the back of his neck that just wouldn't go away. Quickly he turned around and out of the corner of his eye he could have sworn he caught a glimpse of black hair rounding the corner. Mentally shaking himself he turned the corner and made his way into the throng of other cadets milling through the hall but the moment he did the prickling feeling returned. Turning around again he managed to just make out a blur rounding the corner again.

"Get a grip man." He muttered to himself.

"Something wrong Cadet?" A voice in front of him suddenly asked. He damn near jumped about five feet in the air and came face to face with a slightly smirking Zack.

"No sir… just having an off day, I think." He said quickly while giving a salute. Zack looked at him for a moment as though he were studying him before nodding his head slowly.

"Carry on Cadet." He said simply before brushing his way past Leften and heading down the hall. As soon as he was gone Leften quickly made his way towards his class, the prickly feeling never quite going away.

Zack mentally high fived himself before he made his way to his own class, smirking at Angeal who was around the corner as he passed. It was a 3rd class hand to hand he was helping with and Angeal's was a 2nd so he knew they would be out in plenty of time to continue with their part of the day. On some level he almost felt bad for the kid but the minute he would remember what he had done to Cloud the feeling would vanish and be replaced by something akin to loathing.

Back in the office Sephiroth was still seated behind his desk seemingly oblivious to the fact that Genesis was sitting there studying him. _**Mother, ha! That woman wasn't your mother and you know it! **_The strange voice that always seemed to be there hissed at him. He shook his head slightly to brush it aside and finally met the curious look that Genesis was giving him.

"Are we really going to listen to Lazard about this?" The red head asked. At the question the silver haired man shook his head quickly causing Genesis to smirk.

"No, but we'll listen to Cloud." He said lowly causing Genesis to frown. "If he doesn't want us to physically hurt him, then so be it." He added with a hint of finality to his voice.

"Kid has got a better head on his shoulders than we do, doesn't he?" Genesis mused with a soft sort of smirk on his face.

"Indeed." Sephiroth replied before getting to his feet. "Come on, we've kept them waiting long enough." He said with a smirk. "After the meeting, I want you to go and find Leften and bring him to the office."

"What are you planning?" The red head asked giving him a curious look again. At the question though, Sephiroth merely shook his head a bit causing the other man to pout at not being given an answer. "Bitch." Genesis huffed before the two of them headed into the meeting room.

Sephiroth merely smirked to himself, if things worked out the way he was hoping then they would be done with everything before Cloud returned from his drills, or at least that was what he was aiming for. He didn't know how the blonde would react to what there were doing to avenge him but if the request that he had made to Sephiroth before he left was anything to go by, he would not be thrilled with them when he got back. Even knowing this he still couldn't let it go, even with the possible fear of losing Cloud's affections so soon after acquiring them was not enough to sway him from his plans.

He wasn't sure what it was that upset him so much about all of it though, was it the way the little blonde had so quickly wormed his way into all of their lives? Or maybe it was the good tempered nature the young cadet seemed to have, despite all the wrongs that had been done to him, he continued to try and stay positive and do whatever it was he needed to do. Personally Sephiroth couldn't picture himself ever being that way but that thought didn't really surprise him any considering the way he had been raised.

While the four men plotted and carried out their plans Cloud continued to hope that things would turn out all right in the end. Sure he was angry at what had happened, there was no doubting that, but he wasn't about to wish the wrath of four SOLDIERs on anyone, not even Leften. He continued with his musings during the truck ride to where the group would be having their drills, the constant thinking keeping Cloud's mind off of his motion sickness. His thoughts were cut short though when he felt himself being poked. He looked up to see Simon and Leon smirking at him a bit.

"What?" He asked blinking at the two owlishly. The question just seemed to make the two smirk even more at the spiky blonde.

"We noticed someone didn't come back to their room last night." Simon said cryptically which caused Cloud to go a bit wide eyed.

"And we also noticed someone get dropped off by the General this morning." Leon added which caused Cloud to squeak a bit.

"You saw that?" He asked, his eyes still comically wide. The two merely nodded and leaned forward obviously waiting for him to spill his guts. Sighing to himself in annoyance he did just that, knowing that if he tried to lie to them they would never leave him alone about it.

"You asked them not to hurt him?" Leon cried obviously not believing that Cloud would do something as crazy as that. "What were you thinking? Let the guy get what he deserves." He added in a hiss. Simon, not usually in favor of violence merely nodded in agreement.

"No way, Lazard is already mad at them and I don't need them getting in trouble over me." He said quickly. "I just hope they don't do anything to crazy." He added softly glancing away from the now fuming teens.

If Cloud could in fact see what the four were up to in his absence he probably would most likely have been banging his head on a desk somewhere as Zack and Angeal darted into the bathroom that Leften had just entered. Knowing full well that he was in the stall the two of them started running the sinks and talking just loud enough that they knew he would hear.

"I can't believe what happened to Cloud." Zack said with a huff.

"I know, but the best we can do is hope that he'll either give us a name or that we'll be able to figure out who did it and make them pay." Angeal said with a small smirk on his face as he spoke.

In the stall Leften almost jumped when he realized what and who it was that the two were talking about. He couldn't believe that the little blonde bitch hadn't ratted him out about what had happened. Finally stepping out of the stall he almost jumped at realizing that Zack and Angeal were still there and staring at him. They didn't say anything to him but the silence from the two of them was frightening enough as he quickly saluted them both. Neither of them returned it though as they finally headed out of the bathroom smirking to each other as they left.

Leften hurried to class, the silent exchange in the bathroom leaving him shaken and for once worried about the whole situation. Sitting down in his seat he tried to mellow himself managing to convince himself that what had happened had been merely a chance run in and that no one was any wiser. Outside the classroom Genesis arrived and cracked his knuckles while he waited and watched the cadets filing out after the period had ended. As soon as he spotted Leften he quickly made his way over to him.

"Cadet Leften," He said evenly causing the teen to jump and give him a salute. "The General wishes a word." He finished turning and heading down the hall, not even bothering to return the salute from the teen or even bother to make sure the teen was following him.

Sephiroth had just settled himself behind his desk again when a sharp knock sounded before the door slowly opened. He shot Genesis a wicked smirk for a moment before the cadet finally tumbled in after the red head, obviously having had to jog to keep up with Genesis's long stride.

"Cadet Leften as you requested General." Genesis said quickly before bowing his head slightly and heading back out of the office, closing the door behind himself. The silver haired man could smell the paranoia from the cadet.

"Cadet Leften, yesterday afternoon a cadet in your class was attacked in the locker room, have you heard about this?" He asked simply, raising a brow at the teen as he did so.

"N-no Sir." He stammered out. Sephiroth's brow furrowed at this a bit and he leaned forward in his chair staring at the teen, a look he had been told by Zack made him 'scary as shit'.

"Really cadet? We have another cadet who was near the locker rooms at the time the attack occurred that recalled seeing you near there." He said, his voice dropping to a lower pitch that just dared the teen to lie to him.

"What time… what time did… the a-attack happen sir?" He managed to get the question out much to Sephiroth's annoyance.

"It was a bit after Hand to Hand let out for everyone." The General supplied smoothly, his raised brow not yet going down.

"I d-don't recall where… where I was sir." Leften said slowly. At this Sephiroth just out right glared at him.

"Oh I will tell you where you were cadet," He hissed. "You were in that locker room bashing Cloud's head off the fucking wall." He said quickly as his mako enhanced eyes glinted with deadly intent. Leften's own eyes widened at the statement and he quickly shook his head.

"I di…" Sephiroth was out of his chair before the denial could completely leave the teen's mouth.

"If you value your life you will not fucking lie to me again." He growled out. "Know this Leften, we cannot prove what happened but we know and we will hound your every step, now get the fuck out of my office… NOW!" He roared causing Leften to turn tail and run right out as soon as he was able to get the door open.

As soon as he was gone Sephiroth flopped back into his chair with a deranged little smirk playing on his lips and it was still there when Genesis finally came back in. The red head perched himself on the edge of his desk and noting the smirk and small one of his own formed.

"Dare I say things went well?" He asked before a dark chuckle escaped from the other man. Sephiroth merely nodded his head for a moment.

"Things went very well, he was already dripping in paranoia not knowing why he was here but now that he knows just who is following him and why, it should speed things along nicely." He finished before leaning back in his chair, giving Genesis enough room to slip into his lap and make himself at home. "I still don't think Cloud will like any of this but what's done is done, and we're still not quite done." He added with a dark look.

"I love it when you're melodramatic." Genesis said with a snort.

Leften ran through the building until he felt like his lungs were going to explode from the pressure he felt in his chest. He was more than terrified of the reaction that Sephiroth had had over his treatment of Cloud. He had assumed, like everyone else did, that the older SOLDIERs were just using the little blonde like a play toy, but that didn't quite seem to be the case. Though for as scared as he was he was angry as well, after all, he'd seen the blonde first and he was nuttier than a fruitcake at Christmas to top it off and somewhere in the crazy teen's mind that made his treatment of Cloud all right. Leften's thoughts were cut off though as he suddenly jumped about five feet in the air while skidding to a stop in front of a glaring Angeal.

"Sir!" He yelped out while throwing up a quick salute. Angeal merely sneered at him.

"Don't you dare." He growled out at the teen who just looked at him wide eyed for the second time that day. "You'd be wise to watch yourself." He added before simply walking away and leaving Leften staring after him in surprise.

The antics of the four continued on the rest of the day, each of them showing up everywhere that Leften went and occasionally one of them leaving him with a threatening message of sorts, which by the end of the day had the teen looking more than a little rattled. Later though while they were all in Sephiroth's living room the silver haired man growled under his breath.

"It's not enough." He hissed out. "I want him gone." At this the other three looked at him for a moment taking note that his eyes were slowly brightening in his annoyance and anger.

"Seph…" Genesis said softly, placing a hand on the other man's shoulder. Sephiroth snapped his gaze over to the red head and the look was enough to make the other withdraw his hand rather quickly.

To say that Sephiroth was in a rare mood would have been an understatement. In fact the other three couldn't remember very many times before that they had seen him this angry and they didn't take that as a good sign and as the next day came and went his anger only seemed to worsen as psychological warfare didn't seem to work with psycho teens. It seemed like Leften was more determined than before to hang on and the four could only assume it was so that he could have at least one last chance to get at Cloud either to try what he had before or just to hurt him. It was almost dead silent in Sephiroth's living room that night and the other three could clearly hear him grinding his teeth as he sat there.

"I'm finished with this." He said standing up suddenly and heading for the door. He was whirled around quickly though when Genesis suddenly grabbed his arm.

"Seph you know I want more than anything to see this kid's head on a stake for what he did to Cloud and you know I would love to be able to beat his ass but you yourself said that we would listen to Cloud about this." Genesis said, for once actually worried about what his lover might do if left to his own devices. Angeal and Zack were both surprised to find Genesis actually being the level headed one for a change and couldn't decide if it was a good thing or a bad thing right then.

"**Don't listen to him! He's just trying to stop you from protecting what is yours!" **The voice in his head screamed at him suddenly. The voice had become more insistent about the situation ever since they had started tormenting Leften, not that he had mentioned it to the others nor had he mentioned how he had found himself outside of Leften's room the night before with no memory of how he had gotten there. Sephiroth looked at Genesis for a moment but the red head got the distinct feeling that he wasn't seeing him or rather wasn't there completely. The thought was reaffirmed when he was suddenly sent flying across the room and crashed into the end table by the couch.

"Sephiroth!" Angeal suddenly yelled at the silver haired general before he went to approach his friend as well but Zack had managed to beat him to him and was also soon flying across the room. Sephiroth rounded on the other raven haired man with a sneer on his lips and his eyes glowing.

"I wouldn't suggest interfering if I were you." He hissed out at the other man and wisely Angeal took a step back from him and let the man leave the room before he rushed over to Genesis and Zack.

"What the hell was that all about? Where did he go?" Zack huffed out pushing himself into a sitting position with Angeal's help. He could usually take more than that from Sephiroth but it honestly felt like all the wind had been knocked out of him with that single punch, like the man had used more of his strength than he ever had when dealing with him before.

"Isn't it obvious you idiot?" Genesis grumbled out as he finally sat up as well, knowing that Sephiroth had hit him that hard to buy himself time. "He's going after Leften." He added before getting to his feet and quickly heading from the room. Zack and Angeal exchanged looks for a moment before hurrying after the red head as well.

Leften had only just settled into his room for the night when the door to his room flew open and he found himself gasping for breath as he was slammed against the wall. He clawed at the hand around his neck and he was pulled forward a bit and slammed back again, causing his head to bounce much like Cloud's had in the locker room.

"I guess no one is coming to your rescue either." The general hissed out as he slammed Leften against the wall once more. "Give me a reason not to kill you." He growled out, locking his own glowing eyes with the terrified and angry ones of the cadet."

"It kills you that I touched him doesn't it?" The teen wheezed out while struggling for air. He then gasped in alarm when something cool pressed against his neck and he quickly realized that Sephiroth had produced Masamune from seemingly nowhere.

"That doesn't exactly inspire me to mercy." The older man growled out while applying slight pressure to the teen's neck, enough to cause a thin line of blood to appear.

"You SOLDIERs think you're so great." Leften spat, his sheer terror and anger at the situation allowing his mouth the run freely. "I saw the little bitch first." He squawked out before he found himself flying across the room and crashing into the dresser. As he landed a shot of pain ran up through his arm causing him to grunt and he'd no doubt in his mind that the arm was broken.

"You dare." Sephiroth hissed as he strode across the room and quickly lifted Leften clean off the ground by the neck. "His name is Cloud and I will make sure you remember it!" He shouted out before bringing Masamune up and using the tip of the long blade to cut clean across Leften's face.

Out on drill Cloud suddenly sprang up in his tent, his small frame was covered in a cold sweat and he couldn't manage to shake the feeling of dread that washed over him. He just knew in the pit of his stomach that something was very wrong back at the base he just hoped that it wasn't what he was fearing it was.

Back at the base though Genesis, Angeal and Zack arrived at Leften's room just in time to hear the blood curdling scream that rang out. Rushing into the room they found Sephiroth standing menacingly over the beaten and bleeding body of Marcus Leften and despite his anger at the teen Angeal rushed over quickly to search for a pulse, at the moment worried that his friend had gone to far and killed the cadet.

"He's not dead." Sephiroth said finally looking up from the teen's body and looking at the other three. They were tense until they took note that his eyes were back to normal and that he no longer seemed as out of it as he had when he left his place.

"Gaia Seph, what the hell did you do?" Genesis asked finally taking note of the room and the blood spatter on the walls.

"Yes Sephiroth what did you do?" Another voice chimed in and the four quickly looked to find Lazard standing in the doorway looking far less than pleased. "I thought I was clear that none of you were to lay a hand on this cadet." He snapped out before walking into the room before checking Leften over himself. Finding a heartbeat his anger dimmed, but only slightly.

"I don't know." Sephiroth finally said looking down at the teen once more with confusion clearly written on his face. "I remember being in my apartment with these three and I remember getting here but after that, nothing." He said glancing at the others with a puzzled expression.

The other four in the room looked at him with worried expressions on their faces before Lazard stood and pulled out his PHS.

"I need a medical team to the East Wing of Building 2, room 214." He said simply before ending the call and turning back to the other four. "Take him to my office." Genesis opened his mouth looking ready to object when Lazard snapped at them all. "That is an order, do not make me have you arrest him." He added with a hint of finality in his voice.

With a nod the other three started to lead Sephiroth from the room but the general's gaze was still fixed on the bloody body on the floor.

"I hope for the sake of your beloved little cadet that he doesn't die." Lazard said simply to the four men as they left the room.

As they reached Lazard's office Sephiroth sat himself down and went to bring his hands up to his face but was stopped as Genesis reached out to him. He looked at him curiously for a moment until he realized that Genesis was taking his bloody gloves off of his hands. He hadn't even taken notice of them. As the group continued to sit there in silence waiting for Lazard to meet with them Sephiroth noticed that for once his mind was blessedly silent, the strange voice that had been screaming for Leften's blood was gone and his mind seemed to be his own once again, at least for the moment. He didn't know whether to be relieved or terrified at the lack of its presence since it was so rare that it was gone.

When Lazard finally returned to his office, he looked grim to say the least. He'd stayed until Leften had come out of the emergency surgery and the amount of damage that Sephiroth had inflicted on the teen without killing him had been rather alarming, leaving the blonde man in a rather curious predicament.

"Leften will live." He said simply and as he did the four let out a group sigh of relief. "Do not even begin to think that him surviving will in anyway excuse what has happened here." He added with a scowl firmly on his face. "What the hell were you thinking?" He snapped.

"I already told you I don't remember what happened, there is nothing else I can say about it." Sephiroth said flatly. Despite not remembering it was clear that he honestly didn't care about what had happened to the cadet and it was that more than anything that angered Lazard about the situation though at the same time he wasn't at all surprised by it considering how few people Sephiroth actually cared for.

"You mean to tell me you broke both of Leften's arms, four ribs, cut his neck, caused internal bleeding, stabbed him and carved up his face and you don't remember any of it?" Lazard grumbled out. At the list of injuries Sephiroth's brows went up and Genesis, Angeal and Zack all wore matching expressions of shock.

"No I don't." He said simply before leaning back in the chair he was seated in. Sephiroth didn't usually lie and to an extent he wasn't, he could see in his mind what had happened but it was honestly like he was watching someone else do it, but how the hell would you explain something like that without making yourself sound crazy?

_Leften screamed as his other arm was snapped back after Sephiroth threw him on the floor. He had made the mistake of trying to crawl away from the enraged man and it had earned him a foot pressing down into the middle of his back and another broken arm. By this point the cadet had been reduced to a whimpering mass but that just didn't feel like enough, he had drawn Cloud's blood, so there for in Sephiroth's crazed mind it meant that more of his needed to be spilled. Quickly he brought up Masamune and with a flick of his wrist he drew it down the teen's back causing Leften to scream out again in pain before he kicked him away from him. _

_**This is the only fitting punishment for those that damage what belongs to you, try to take what is rightfully yours, they must pay! **__The voice hissed out in his mind. Sephiroth watched, not quite alarmed but not entirely all right as he flipped Leften over and roughly placed a knee into his chest, listening as the teen struggled to scream and a few ribs cracked from the force of the blow. Dismissing Masamune from him, his field knife was drawn from its sheath and he watched with sick fascination as his own hands began to litter Leften's face with cuts before stabbing the teen in the side._

"_Touch Cloud again and I promise so much worse, this will feel like heaven compared to what I will do to you if you even look at him the wrong way." Sephiroth hissed out and by this point he seemed to be back in control of himself as he stood up and took a slight step back from the teen just as Angeal, Genesis and Zack came bounding into the room._

Sephiroth slowly shook his head willing the memory away and trying to focus on the others in the room who he realized where now staring at him.

"I can honestly say I don't know how to handle this." Lazard said finally with a sigh before leaning back in his chair. "True you disobeyed a direct order but at the same time I cannot say that the reasons for your actions were entirely wrong, just that the actions themselves were." He added. "The usual punishments don't work with you and I don't see how locking you up would help the situation any." He finished with a sigh. His mind ran over the situation a number of times until he thought of something that he thought would be enough of a blow to all of them.

"Upon his return I will be informing Cadet Strife of what has happened on his behalf," At this all four SOLDIERs went wide eyed, the one thing they had been hoping for was that Cloud wouldn't find out what they had been doing. "And you, Sephiroth, will be spending the next four days with Hojo and maybe that will help jog your memory." He added causing Sephiroth to shoot a growl in his direction. "You brought this on yourselves. I only hope that Cadet Strife is strong enough to handle any emotional damage that comes out of this thanks to all of you. Dismissed." He said with a flick of his hand.

As the four left his office and leaned forward putting his head down on his desk suddenly feeling much older than he actually was. He knew that telling Cloud would probably have some serious effects on the teen but he couldn't come up with a better way to punish the group of them for what they had done and participated in. As for Sephiroth, the fury that the man had for Leften was alarming to say the least and Lazard couldn't help but pray to the Goddess that they all wouldn't be seeing that type of rage again from the man anytime soon.

Back in Sephiroth's apartment Angeal and Zack left without so much as a goodnight to the other two, Angeal trying to assure Zack that Cloud would be okay and that everything would work out which left Genesis to take care of Sephiroth. The red head looked at him as a small sigh escaped him. Guiding him down the hall and into the bathroom Genesis got him out of the bloody clothes and into a hot shower before stepping in after him and silently cleaning him up. Sephiroth hadn't uttered a word since Lazard had handed down his sentence on the situation and Genesis for once had no clue what to say. This had all started out of wanting to protect Cloud and in the end they were going to be the ones hurting him. Genesis jumped slightly when he felt his side touched suddenly, having been lost in thought, and looked to see Sephiroth gently touching the bruise that was already healing on his side from where he'd been punched.

"I'm sorry." The silver haired man muttered out lowly.

"Honestly I don't think it was you that did it." Genesis said with a serious expression on his face causing Sephiroth to look at him in surprise. "I think it was whatever you have locked up in there." He finished while tapping the other man on the head. Letting out a sigh of relief that he hadn't known he'd been holding Sephiroth wrapped his arms around him and sighed again.

"I'm worried that this will hurt Cloud in ways that we can't fix." He said softly.

"I'm not going to lie Seph I don't know how he will handle all this when he finds out what happened but if he could forgive me for what I did that's got to be a good sign right? Maybe, maybe when he's had a chance to come to grips with what happened we should sit him down and explain to him just what being with us entails, we at least owe him that much don't we?" Genesis asked looking at Sephiroth with a serious expression on his face.

"I just hope we don't lose him because of it." The silver haired man said with a small sigh. The two shared no more words, finishing their shower in silence before turning in for the night.

As the truck carrying the cadets that had been out on drills returned four days later, Lazard extending the drills so that Sephiroth's sudden absence would not be noticed by anyone, Cloud hopped out feeling mostly well despite a small bout of motion sickness on the way back but feeling of dread washed over him as he heard his name being called.

"Cadet Strife!" One of the instructors bellowed out causing Cloud to quickly raise his hand. "You're too report to Director Lazard's office immediately." This earned him surprised looks from both Simon and Leon.

"By the Goddess, what did they do?" He whispered softly.

End Chapter

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Sorry for the delay everyone the next chapter is already half written so hopefully it won't take so long for the next one.


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